Jinchuuriki Redemption
by hollowblade
Summary: AU. The Jinchuuriki have dissbanded from their respective villages and formed their own organization as a counter measure to the Akatsuki. Naruto is OOC, contains an OC. 1st fanfic
1. Prologue

Down in one of the many hidden rooms within his vast fortress, the aging man sat up in the medical bed. The pain he felt in his body, his arms, was nothing compared to the pain that had begun to engulf his mind. It was unbearable, the feeling of uncertainty, helplessness, powerlessness, and mortality. He couldn't stand it! All he can do is lie in his bed, being waited on by others. He had already taken out his anger at one of the doctors; he won't be bothering him again. The only one he could tolerate was his bespectacled right-hand man. And speak of the devil. The boy came in with a tray of various medicines and herbs. He placed them down next to the bed and began his preparations.

"Kabuto, I am clearly not the mood right now." The man glared down at his assistant, but Kabuto only continued to give him that same cocky smirk he puts on when he shows off.

"But Lord Orochimaru, I must administer the medicine on schedule." As he attempted to calm down his master and mentor, Kabuto flicked the syringe needle. "We must try to keep you in health if the transfer will be a success. The time is steadily approaching."

Kabuto then inserted the needle into one of his master's veins and injected the substance. Orochimaru's body then began to relax a little. Yes, Kabuto was correct. The time surely was coming. Soon he will leave this horrid, decrypted body and enter a new one. A new, young, and _powerful_ body. One that belongs to one of the most ancient and notorious clans to ever come onto the battlefield. Uchiha. Uchiha Sasuke. The power of the Sharingan will soon belong to him. No, not just the Sharingan, but the power that once belonged to that man, Uchiha Madara. He allowed a small chuckle escape his lips. Oh how he dreamed of the day that the power of one of the most infamous kekkei genkais the world has ever known, and soon the power will be his.

Satisfied, Kabuto picked up the tray and quietly left the room. The medicine began to affect his body and Orochimaru's began to feel lose and relax. He allowed his to slump a little. It was time to rest his body. His eyes began to close as sleep began to overtake him.

"Agh!" A sharp pain arose from Orochimaru's mid section. A single katana had pierced him from behind and ran straight through his left lung. "Damn! Who…?" Then he felt it. A menacing chakra that he was all too familiar with. A chakra that he had been mentoring for the past three years. "Uchiha…Sasuke…"

Orochimaru's attacker was hidden in the small space between the head of the bed and the wall behind it. He had concealed his presence perfectly, and struck with expert timing and precision.

"You…brat! How dare you!" The boy only stared back without emotion and unresponsive. "Hahahaha, fine then. I'll just take your body now and then…ugh!" Orochimaru couldn't control his chakra properly. "Raiton…damn it." Sasuke was interrupting the electrical signals from the brain by causing raiton to flow from his sword and into Orochimaru.

"You honestly thought I would just let you take my body? Either you are a fool or you've finally lost it." Sasuke finally spoke. "I was planning this from the beginning."

"What about your brother? You need me to fulfill the oath of vengeance that you have taken against him."

"No, I've gotten all I can out of you. Besides…" Sasuke's mind drifted back to the day that he had confronted _him_. _**"What do plan to do when Orochimaru plans to take your body? Once you're done with him come seek me out, I will be able to aid you."**_ "…someone I know to be much stronger then you has already promised me Itachi's head!" And with that last sentence, Sasuke sent a stream of electricity through Orochimaru's body, frying his brain into nothing then a mass of boiling mush.

Sasuke slowly rose from the space between the bed and the wall, pulling out his sword from the now dead Sanin. "Now, let's see if can keep your promise, Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Author's Note: I know not much right now but the pace will pick up with the next chapter. This is my first fanfic. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. Read and review! =)


	2. Assembly

All right, chapter 1 is up!!! If it is short, I'm sorry. I was planning to have more but it seemed to be running a tad long to me.

Also since I didn't say this last time **Disclamer: I do not own Naruto, that right belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

An empty cave, devoid of live, and with no way of entering by conventional means. Within its deepest depths is a large chamber with its roof in the form of a dome and covered in stalactites. A wide pillar rose from the ground meeting the ceiling halfway. Circling around this pillar are nine smaller ones, each engraved with different kanji symbols; Shukaku, Bakeneko, Kyodaigame, Saru, Irukauma, Namekuji, Kabutomushi, Kyugyo, Yoko.* As no sunlight reached this place, there was no light to break through the eternal darkness of the cavern. However, that darkness was soon disturbed, one by one each of the smaller nine pillars began to glow with strange lights; each omitting different waves of colors. Nine figures appeared on these pillars, all wearing hooded coats that zipped half-way down. They each were colored corresponding with the color of the light they appeared from. Printed on the back of each cloak were the same kanji that were engraved on their respective pillars, with a different number of tails that spiraled across the back of the coat with the kanji at the center. A soon as these hooded figures appeared, they began their meeting.

"Allow me to welcome you all." The figure smaller in stature and that wore a coat of dark green wielding a large black staff with hooks on each end addressed. "It has been some time since we have met like this."

"This is too soon in my opinion." The largest one that wore a white colored coat answered.

"Hey come on now," Another figure quickly and merrily answered back, this one giving the appearance of a teenage girl wearing a bright green coat and carrying a large cylindrical object wrapped in a red cloth, "you should be more sociable, Han-chan!"

Han merely gave a heavy sigh, obviously bothered by the inappropriate title that was used in his name. "Fuu, I will ask you to give me no title, however if you feel compelled to then let it be sama."

"Han-chan, you're only proving my point." Fuu replied.

Han was once again going to retaliate when the woman wearing a dark blue coat interrupted him. "If you two could stop with your uncorrelated chatter, then maybe we might get something done here."

"Thank you Yugito." The figure in dark green cut in. "The reason for this meeting is that I have learned of some unsettling information." All the other attendants turned there attention toward their smaller colleague. "Orochimaru, one of the Sanin of Konahagakure, has been assassinated."

The cavern had become silent. This was broken almost as soon as it had started. "Is that all! Come now Yagura, I find nothing troubling in this news." The one who had broken the silence was a man in a solid red coat.

"Yo man, so that slimy, bulimic creep has finally kicked the bucket, huh?" A man in a purple coat exclaimed.

"Well I certainly agree with both Roshi and Killer Bee." A young man that wore a bright blue coat confessed. "I also wish to know the importance of this information, Yagura." The young man paused. "What do think you think of this, Gaara?"

"I also agree with your statement, Utakaka. I also share my unconditional joy with this new knowledge as Killer Bee does." Replied the young man wearing a tan colored coat sporting a large gourd hanging on his back.

"You all fail to see the importance in this news." Yagura explained to his colleagues. "Orochimaru is not the cause of my discomfort. I no longer deem him much of a threat, in truth have thought this for some time. However, that is unimportant. What I am worrying about is not the assassinated but the assassin."

Once again, a brief silence fell upon the cavern. "Well, who was it, Yagura-chan? Who took out Orochimaru-teme?" Fuu asked with earnest.

"It was Uchiha Sasuke." The one to answer Fuu was the one who wore a crimson red coat and who has also failed to contribute to the meeting thus far.

"Are you positive of your accusation, Naruto?" Utakaka inquired.

"Naruto is correct." Yagura answered. "Uchiha Sasuke was indeed the one who assassinated Orochimaru."

"Itachi's little brother, huh?" Han commented.

"I still don't see the problem." Roshi exclaimed. "So the brat got lucky. I am not really all that worried."

"You shouldn't underestimate him." Naruto warned.

"I agree with Naruto. If memory serves me right, the Uchiha clan is very irritating and not to be taken lightly." Yugito added.

"That I am also concerned about." As Yagura spoke, all the others stopped to listen. "Uchiha Sasuke is not to be underestimated. Despite his age, Sasuke is a very powerful and skilled shinobi, and his powers still continue to grow. Roshi, he may not be a threat to you now, but would happen if he were to roam free?"

"I don't know." Fuu began to say "Sasuke has a personal vendetta against his older brother Itachi, right? So why should we be concerned about him? He will just be going after Itachi."

"We are concerned because he is a blank slate." Naruto immediately answered. "Sasuke has but one focus, to kill his older brother. By using that he can be easily lead blind as long as he believes that it will help him in obtaining vengeance. That is how Orochimaru got a hold of him in the first place."

"So that means when he finally completes the deed, Sasuke will be an empty existence." Gaara added. "The first person for him to com in contact with could easily influence what he plans to do from then on."

"That is correct, Gaara." Yagura said. "However, Naruto is also right. Sasuke could easily be influenced right now."

"Thanks for agreeing with me Yagura." Naruto commented. "However, I don't really think anyone of you needs to be concerned with Sasuke."

"Oh, does that mean you'll be the one to handle him?" Killer Bee pried.

"Don't worry about it. I can vouch for Sasuke." Naruto assured him.

"Very well then, Naruto, Sasuke is yours." Yagura said. "I would you like to keep from getting in our way. He tends to do what he wants and for his own reasons. However, at some point we shall all wish to see the progress you have made, if any."

"Like I said, don't worry." Naruto answered with absolute confidence. "I have everything completely under control."

* * *

"Everyone's here then." Uchiha Sasuke addressed the three teenagers in front of him. Hozuki Suigetsu, the white-haired shinobi with the ability to turn his body into water. However, because of Orochimaru's experiments, his body is now permanently in a liquidized state. Karin, the bespectacled red-head whose blood has incredible healing abilities is an unrivaled sensory shinobi. Juugo, orange-haired and bipolar, was another one of Orochimaru's possible candidates for his transference technique. The four missing-nin were standing outside one of Orochimaru's now demolished hideout in the Land of Waves.

"So you really did wipe out that old snake, did ya?" Suigetsu pried while sipping from one of his many water bottles.

Sasuke only gave a small glance at Suigetsu as acknowledgement, and then turned to both Karin and Juugo. "I hope this isn't a problem for you two. Unlike Suigetsu here, the two of you worked for Orochimaru willingly."

"No, of course not! Why would I have a problem that?" Karin said, flustered as she failed to give the reason for following Sasuke.

"As long as you can keep me under control as Kimimaru once had, using that Sharingon of yours, I'll be fine." Juugo replied.

"That's good because I plan to move out immediately." Sasuke announced.

"That anxious to find Itachi are we?" Suigetsu teased.

"I never said anything about Itachi." Sasuke's reply not only left the three shinobi dumb-founded, but almost at a complete lost for words.

"Wait a minute! The only reason I decided to join up with you was because I knew that Hoshigaki Kisame happened to be Uchiha Itachi's partner." Suigetsu ranted. "I know you know about my ambition for collecting the weapons of the Seven Swordsman, and the Samehada happens to be one of those weapons I'm particularly interested in."

"Hold on a minute Suigetsu." Juugo said, trying to calm down one of his new comrades. "Sasuke only said he wasn't hunting Itachi this very instant. He never said anything about giving up on him. Am I right Sasuke?"

Sasuke nearly nodded. "I will be going after Itachi at some point, but not now. In all honesty, I do not believe I will be able to take him one-on-one."

"But isn't that why you formed this group, right?" Karin questioned. "So that with a group, you would a better chance of defeating Itachi."

"That, Karin is incorrect." Sasuke answered. "I have never intended anyone one of you confronting Itachi has part of my plans. I will be fighting Itachi, but on my own. Is it the same thing with you Suigetsu?"

"Of course. What would be the fun in killing Kisame if I don't do it with my own power?" Suigetsu said. "Besides, I don't think Samehada will accept me if I had help in defeating its chosen owner."

"You talk as if the weapon was a living being." Karin stated skeptically.

"Well then, you don't know much about what that weapon can do then." Suigetsu replied back with a sneer.

"That's enough you two." Sasuke said. "If I or Suigetsu attempts to achieve are goals in our current states, we will be doomed to fail. We each are missing important pieces that we require for our success. Even though I took out Orochimaru, I am still lacking my Mangekyou."

"What about me." Suigetsu added on. "You said I was missing something."

"That is a special surprise." Sasuke replied, leaving Suigetsu annoyed and a little curious. "I know you are aware what happened in this country three years ago, right."

"Yeah, I heard that Zabuza was defeated by a bunch of rookie Genins from Konohagakure, but I don't really believe that." Sasuke only gave a small smirk as a reply. "What, you know something about it?"

"Well, to be honest, it was my former group that was involved with the defeat of Momochi Zabuza. Although, it was actually my former sensei, Hatake Kakashi, who defeated him."

"So it was that copy-cat bastard that killed him."

"No, that's not quite right either."

"Hmmm, then who killed him then?"

"Will it wasn't a single individual that did, he mostly died from heavy injuries. Actually, it was pretty courageous and her…"

"Lalalalalala…" Suigetsu had stuck his index fingers in his ears and began to create noise to interrupt Sasuke. "I'm not listening, lalalalala."

"Well, I guess how he died isn't really important." Sasuke continued, ignoring Suigetsu. "What is important is that he is indeed dead, and very particular weapon was buried with him."

"Oh, so that is the special surprise you were talking about." Said Suigetsu, finally putting it all together.

* * *

The group arrived at the burial sight about an hour after departing. Two unnamed wooden crosses tied together with rope were staked into the ground. In front of them were the remains of offerings that were placed there long ago. More importantly, however, was the item that was sticking out from the ground behind one of the crosses. Upon seeing this item, Suigetsu took no hesitation in taking from its resting place.

"Suigetsu, Have you no respect!" Karin yelled out in protest.

"No, not really." Suigetsu retorted. "Anyway, with a nickname like The Reincarnation of the Demon, you would think that by taking the Decapitating Carving Knife that belonged to the late Momochi Zabuza it would be like accepting my inheritance." With that said, Suigetsu tried out his new weapon with a few practice swings. "Yeah, that just feels right."

"Suigetsu you dumb ass! You could have hit one of us!" Karin complained.

"I actually agree a little with Karin, you should be a little more careful." Juugo added.

"Alright, alright. I'll try." Suigetsu then calmly put the weapon away.

"Come on, we still need to get to our destination." Sasuke said

"I thought this was our destination." Karin asked with curiosity.

"No, in all honesty, this was just a convenient rest stop." Suigetsu gave an annoyed grunt at Sasuke's comment.

"So where are we heading? Juugo asked.

"You'll find out." Sasuke and company then began to leave the burial place and headed to their unknown destination.

* * *

* I know that some of the Bijuu's names reguire a dash above specific letters, especially Yoko which can mean something entirely different without the dash above the first o. However, I do not know how to type those special letters, if someone would help me on that, it would be very appreciated.

Once again, please review. Any constructive criticism is appreciated.


	3. Reunion

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, nor will I ever. Actually, you'd have to be pretty slow to think that I, or anyone else, would try to take credit for Naruto.

* * *

After their quick stop at the burial place, Sasuke, Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo began to head toward their final destination. However, only Sasuke knew where they were headed and he refused to give the slightest hint, no matter how much they asked him. He would only reply with an, "You'll see.", or, "When we get there." Suigetsu was getting annoyed, so he began to repeat one of most infamous phrases ever invented by mankind.

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No!" Sasuke began, finally, showing some annoyance with Suigetsu's pestering.

Suigetsu paused, and Sasuke believed that he was finally…

"Are we there yet?"

"NO...Oh wait, we're here."

They had stopped in front of a large bridge. It stretched far into the ocean, connecting the Land of Fire with the now prosperous Land of Waves. Looking up at the sign on top of the bridge's gate way, one could read the name given to the impressive bridge. Sasuke saw this and gave a small smile.

"The Great Naruto Bridge, huh." Juugo read.

"To get a bridge as important as this own to get named after," Karin began, "this Naruto guy must a pretty impressive individual."

"So this is THE bridge." Suigetsu said, unimpressed. "Wasn't Zabuza the one who killed Gato? Shouldn't it be called the Great Zabuza Bridge?"

The other three paused and looked back at Suigetsu. "So you did know what happened here after all." Juugo pointed out.

Suigetsu then reacted by placing his hands over his ears. "I can't hear you, what was that again?"

As Suigetsu continued his antics, Karin had picked up an unfamiliar chakra coming toward them. It felt cold, and just as Karin was about to warn her comrades, large, sharp blocks of ice flew from the sky to strike at the group. Sasuke and Karin both simply side-stepped the attack having seen it coming. Juugo used his brute strength to repel the attack by smashing the ice crystals. Suigetsu, being made of water, simply allowed the attack to make contact.

"Impressive, but naïve, Uchiha." As soon as the attacker said this, Sasuke found a katana placed against his throat. The katana was wrapped in bandages at the hilt. The arms that were holding the katana in place seemed to merge out from the ice rather then just being hidden within.

"Himihime, stop playing around with those travelers." The one who said this was sitting atop the gate way. He appeared to be a young man, he wore a crimson red coat and his face was hidden beneath his hood. "They are our guests."

"But senpai…fine." Himihime released the jutsu, and before Sasuke could react, she jumped to her senpai's side as he leaped down from the gate way. Himihime couldn't of been no more older then twelve. Her hair was grown down to her shoulders and sky blue in color and bright blue eyes to match. She wore a white shihakusho, a sleeveless fish-net shirt and armbands, and tabi socks and straw sandals. She then sheathed her katana in a light blue sheath. At first-glance, she appeared more like a samurai then a shinobi.

As this was all going on, Karin was studying the chakra of the two new arrivals. The cold chakra she sensed was obviously coming from the girl, but what about this senpai of hers. In truth, even Karin didn't sense his approach, but now she can get a good feel of his chakra. What she sensed was nothing less then astonishing. This hooded figure contained a volume of chakra that she never experienced before. It made her weak-kneed, almost to point of fright.

"Hey, Karin." Sasuke began "You were curious about the guy they named this bridge after, right? Well that dobe happens to standing right over there, although he isn't that impressive in my opinion."

"Dobe!? You don't talk to senpai like that, Uchiha!" Himihime spoke in an outburst, but the hooded figure merely put up his hand to create a barrier between her and Sasuke.

"Dobe, huh? That's something I haven't heard in a long time, teme." The figure responded, putting a bit more emphasis on that last word.

"Well the same goes for that little nickname as well, Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke replied back with a smirk. The figure then began to remove his hood revealing a slightly tanned face with three whisker marks on each cheek, messy blonde hair, and blue eyes. He also wore a big grin on his face.

"You know this guy, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yeah, he is a former teammate of mine, before I left Konohagakure." Sasuke replied.

"Really, go figure." Just as Suigetsu finished his sentence, Juugo suddenly began to move slowly past his comrades.

"You…you're Uzumaki Naruto?" Anyone could see the blind rage that was filling Juugo's eyes. "You…you're the one who…killed…Kimimaru!"

"Shit, Sasuke, Juugo's going feral, do something!" Karin screamed. However, before Sasuke could act, Naruto had already made his move.

"So what if I did, what are you going to do about it?" Naruto gave an intense glare at Juugo, and it left him frozen in his tracks. It was only for a brief moment, but Juugo had felt an overwhelming sensation that left him motionless. All of Juugo's bloodlust had completely left him along with any will to fight. It became hard to breath.

Everyone was speechless, unsure of what happened. All except Himihime, who recognized the technique instantly. _"That was senpai's genjutsu. All he needs is the slightest bit of eye contact and you're caught. For just an instant, he uses a large amount of chakra and concentrates it on a single opponent. Like a paralysis genjutsu, it leaves the enemy completely immobile, and not only that; because of the sudden shockwave from such a violent, overwhelming chakra it would feel like hitting a steel wall at full force. It's not very surprising that he got the wind knocked out of him. Hell, I've seen some die of asphyxiation when senpai was still trying to master the technique."_

"Whoa, Juugo, you okay man. You look like you just saw a ghost." Suigetsu said.

"I think…I think I did…" It was hard for Juugo to talk. "…and it looked like…a fox."

"Senpai! You used the fox's chakra in that attack!?" Himihime yelled.

"He was about to completely release his curse mark and go apeshit on us." Naruto said, trying to defend himself. "I had no choice but to use it."

"Sasuke, what does that girl mean by fox's chakra?" Karin questioned.

"You mean, you didn't tell them yet Sasuke?" Naruto teased with a sneer.

"Sasuke, Juugo's having trouble breathing!" Suigetsu panically called out.

"Naruto, what did you do?" Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"Jeez, Sasuke, calm down. It was only something to calm him down with." Naruto said, again, trying to defend himself. "Although, I think I might have used a bit too much chakra. Chakra control has never been my forte. It'll wear off on its own, he'll be fine." Naruto added on the last part as Sasuke continued to just glare at him.

* * *

It took about fifteen minutes for Juugo to catch his breath. Naruto gave a formal, heart-felt apology to Juugo and the rest of the group for what he called self-defense. "Again, again, sorry. Kinda got off on the wrong foot there, huh?"

"Ya think?" Suigetsu snapped back in an annoyed tone.

"Look, I didn't come here to goof around." Sasuke put in bluntly. "What is it exactly that you want?"

Naruto gave Sasuke a sinister smile. "Honestly you won't have to do much. I only really need you to do some odd jobs for me, that's all."

"Really, I would think that you Jinchuuriki would be a bit more prepared by now."

"We are prepared. Actually, the other Jinchuuriki and I have been ready for the Akatsuki for some time now. However, according to my information, they aren't quite ready yet."

"So, again, what exactly do you need us for?"

"Like I said, just some simple errands." Naruto paused for a second before giving a heavy sigh. "Also, if you happen to run into any of my Jinchuuriki comrades, try not to reveal what you're up to. I would like to keep this a secret, you know, like between old friends."

"Oh, so it's those kinds of errands." Sasuke responded with a smile, just as Suigetsu cut in.

"Hold up, you guys kind of lost me for a second. I know about the Akatsuki and stuff, but Jinchuuriki is a term I'm not familiar with."

"Senpai, can I inform the retarded fish-freak of the situation, please." Himihime asked, and Naruto gave her the okay. "Well then dumbass, listen up because I won't say it twice." Suigetsu just scoffed at the remark. "As you have probably heard of, already, the nine Bijuu; Ichibi, Nibi, Sanbi, Yonbi, Gobi, Rokubi, Nanabi, Hachibi, and Kyuubi. Villages have attempted to harness their powers as weapons, and one of those ways were to seal them in humans, the human host being referred to as a Jinchuuriki. Recently it has come to some of the villages attention that the group Akatsuki plans to hunt down the Jinchuuriki in order to harness the Bijuu's power. As a sort of counter to this the nine Jinchuuriki have left their villages and have formed their own group."

"That should be enough for you, Suigetsu." Naruto finished off, as if it was some kind of warning.

"Well then, now that everyone is all caught up, I have another question." Sasuke proclaimed. "What the hell does any of this have to do with Itachi?"

"It has nothing to do with him." Naruto answered, "Or it has everything to with him."

"Don't bullshit me!"

"Look, just do some little jobs for me, and I promise I will help you with Itachi" Naruto said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Besides, you didn't think I would give you any information for free, did you?"

"Tch" Sasuke stayed silent and decided to play along. "Fine, what do you need us to do?"

"It's a very simple task really. The hideout were you killed Orochimaru has some very important reports and data within it. I need you and Taka to get it for me."

"Is there anything unparticular that I am looking for?"

"No, not really. You should know the inner chambers of that place pretty well. You should be able to find where Orochimaru kept all of his most important information. All you need to do find where that is an empty it until there is nothing left. I will determine from there if I can find what I am looking for." Naruto gave a pause. "And from their, I will help you with the first step toward accomplishing your goal."

Sasuke allowed a small grin to appear on his face, "Alright then, I'll leave immediately." Sasuke turned and signaled the rest to follow. The group of four then vanished as they headed toward their new destination.

When she believed them to be out of earshot, Himihime broke the silence. "How much do you actually intend to reveal, in the end?"

"I plan to tell him everything." Naruto answered. "Sasuke will learn that his situation isn't as black and white as he thinks it is."

* * *

What!? Why weren't we informed earlier!?!" Sakura blurted out to what she was just told by The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, and Lord Jiraiya.

"We just got the info today." Tsunade responded.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I got here as fast as I could." Jiraiya stated.

"Four days ago, huh?" Sakura said to herself. "What's Sasuke been doing since then?"

"We don't know, which is why I called you here." Tsunade answered. "I need you to form a team and head out to where Sasuke assassinated Orochimaru, see if you can find anything."

"Alright then, I'll head out as soon as I can." Sakura then rushed out of the Hokage's office to begin her mission."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry about the slow update, there was school and other stuff. *sigh* Anyway, next chapter will be up soon! I will try to update weekly, or maybe two in a week if I'm on a roll. And before anyone can say anything, you will find Himihime's abilities similar too Haku's and Toshiro Hitsugaya's from Bleach, and this is somewhat intentional. I thought up this character before finding out about Bleach, and when I did, Hitsugaya quickly became one of my fav characters, so he started to influence her a lot. also Read and Review! I want to know what you guys think, cause if no one says anything, I will assume that no one as a problem with my writing skills and I won't improve. Konoha vs Taka next chapter, yay!


	4. Taka vs Konoha

**Disclaimer: **I do not own ANY rights to Naruto or its characters. Wish I did though.

* * *

"Can we trust him?" Taka had been traveling for a few hours at a quick pace since they left the bridge before Karin had spoken up.

"Trust doesn't have anything to do with it." Sasuke responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "He provides what I need as long as I provide what he wants. It's more like a business transaction." Sasuke paused and then glanced back at Karin. "What? Did you notice anything in his chakra that made you suspicious?"

"It wasn't that I saw something." Karin paused as she reflected back toward the scene at the bridge. "It was more like I didn't see anything. I did see the second volume of chakra that he possessed, but I wouldn't have guessed that it was a Bijuu. As for his regular chakra…he was able to hide his emotions very well."

"This is nothing new to me. Naruto was always a master at hiding his true feelings. I can only think of a select few people who were able to see through his mask on their own, including myself."

"Then are you the least bit concerned he won't follow through." Juugo had spoken for the first time since Naruto assaulted him.

"There is no doubt that he will come through." Sasuke responded, once again, with absolute confidence. "Besides, our goals happen to coincide."

"Hmm, how so?" Suigetsu's interest picking up.

"The Jinchuuriki will be confronting the Akatsuki soon." Sasuke continued. "Itachi happens to be a member. So as long as I stick with Naruto, confronting Itachi will be inevitable. It is as simple as that." Knowing Sasuke had nothing else to say on the subject, the other three kept silent has they continued toward their destination.

* * *

The group of four shinobi stopped as they approached the entrance to the hideout. The entrance was hidden under the roots of a group of trees that had overlapped each other, and faced the edge of a large lake that stretched out for miles. Actually, if one would really think on it, the area stuck out like a sore thumb. Sasuke then turned to his three comrades. "I will be going in alone. You three stay out here to keep guard."

"You really think someone is going to show up?" Suigetsu asked.

"You can never be too cautious." Sasuke said.

"Or paranoid."

"Sasuke's right." Karin butted in. "Besides, he knows the layout of this hideout better then any off us." Karin reached down into her pouch and took out three regular sized scrolls. "Here, if you're going to take everything then these should be the most beneficial." They were carrier scrolls. Mostly used by merchants, these scrolls contained a special seal that allowed them to carry large amounts of just about any object. However, they can only hold one type of object at a time. The amount they can carry depends on the weight of the object that they are carrying. The heavier the object the less the scroll can carry. "If we're dealing with other scrolls, then you should be able get everything with just two, but it's always good to have an extra one just in case." Without saying a word, Sasuke took the scrolls and entered the hideout.

"Wow Karin, Sasuke looked really impressed." Suigetsu commented sarcastically. "Maybe if you had just given him one more scroll, he might have let you touch him."

"Shut up!" Karin sent a kunai racing toward his head. It hit its mark, but he just burst into water like he always does and his head reformed, laughing at his own joke.

"I said shut up!" Karin was more serious with her statement this time, and Juugo understood what it meant.

"How many?"

"Four, all formidable." Karin closed her eyes and concentrated. "Judging from their distance they should be here soon."

"Haha, about time." Suigetsu grinned madly as strongly gripped his sheathed weapon. "I haven't had a decent fight in so long."

* * *

"Shikamaru, how much further?" Ino asked impatiently.

"We're almost there, just be a little patient." Shikamaru said with a small hint of irritation. The squad consisting of Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji have been traveling from Konoha at a non-stop pace. While Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji conversed between one another throughout the journey, Sakura had yet to say a word. She was so heavily concentrated on reaching Orochimaru's hideout that at a few times along the way, she had begun to race ahead of the group.

The other three knew full well the cause of Sakura's anxiety. If any assignment had the smallest possibility of Uchiha Sasuke being involved, Sakura jumped on the chance without hesitation. She had been heartbroken when Sasuke left, but she wasn't surprise by the fact. She knew him too well. However, there was another that left along with Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto. This not only came as a surprise to Sakura, but to everyone else in the village. Many believed that Sasuke had killed him during the mission, but this became unlikely as no one was able to find a body. The only explanation that anyone could believe was that Naruto had also betrayed the village. For about a year after Sasuke and Naruto had left, they searched for leads on Naruto's whereabouts, but to no avail. He had seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth.

"Hold." Sakura signaled for her squad to stop. They had reached what they believed to be the hideout. As what their information suggested, the entrance was hidden underneath overlapping tree roots overlooking a surprisingly large lake. Sakura had stopped prematurely because there was a lone individual guarding the entrance. A large man with spiky, bright orange hair wearing a large, black cloak wrapped around his body.

"Either he's plenty strong on his own, or there is an ambush waiting for us down there." Shikamaru stated.

"Or both." Choji also pointed out.

Before Shikamaru could suggest a battle plan, Sakura had already made one. "I'm going on ahead, take care of the guard." Before anyone could protest, Sakura had already made her move. She charged the single guard head on. The guard didn't move, as if simply waiting for her to hit him. He was waiting, but it was for the person that morphed out of the lake, wielding an all too familiar blade, ready to strike.

"Get out of my way!" Sakura landed a punch full force into the stomach of the new comer, only to see him burst into a pool of water. At first Sakura suspected it a suiton bunshin, but the figure sluggishly attempted to reform.

"You bitch! You had some raiton backing up that punch of yours, damn." The figure managed to blurt out as the upper part off his body had reassembled itself. However, Sakura took no time to listen as she dashed toward the entrance. The large man made an attempt to strike at her, but she performed a quick maneuver and made a rush into the hideout, disappearing into the darkness.

Shikamaru and the others stayed put as they watched Sakura's small scuffle with the two lookouts. The white-haired one had already reformed and began to speak to the large, orange-haired guard. Here they could catch them off-guard. Shikamaru turned to form a plan with Ino and Choji. However, he was once again interrupted, this time by an exploding tag attached to a kunai that had just appeared in the middle of their group.

Just as the tag ignited, the three Konoha shinobi dashed out from their hiding place and into the clearing that revealed the entrance to Orochimaru's hideout. The white-haired shinobi wielding the large sword turned around and gave an eerie small. "Well, glad you three could finally join us."

"You already knew we were here?" Ino asked

"Well, it wasn't really that difficult." A bespectacled, red-haired girl strolled into clearing. There was no doubt that she was the one who through the kunai. "I was already aware of your presence for some time." Her choice of words led Shikamaru to hypothesis that the red-head must be a sensory-type.

"Well that certainly puts us at a disadvantage." Shikamaru complained. "You three have had ample time to come up with some sort of battle strategy, while we have been caught completely off-guard." Shikamaru gave a heavy sigh. "However, improvising is also a necessary shinobi skill, for situations just like these." Shikamaru quickly pulled out a couple of smoke bombs and through them down in front of him.

"_Baika no Jutsu!"_ Choji leaped out from the smoke with his left arm expanded. The orange-haired guard met Choji's attack with his own. His right arm transformed, growing in overall size and began sprouting large spiked scales. Their fists met with equal force.

"_Kagemane no Jutsu!"_ A shadow extended from the cloud. The red-head dodged with ease. However, the white-haired swordsman didn't seem to notice and was caught in the trap.

Ino leaped from the side of the smoke and aimed at the only target that wasn't already preoccupied. _"Shintenshin no Jutsu!"_ Ino's mind and body completely separated from one another, with here spirit heading strait for the red-haired shinobi. The jutsu would have struck her from the side, however the target ducked just as the jutsu was going to make contact.

The smoked cleared and Shikamaru began to asses the situation. Choji and the large guard were going at it and seemed to be evenly matched. He himself had caught the swordsman in his jutsu. However, Ino was unconscious, most likely because her jutsu failed. The red-haired one was standing in what would have been Ino's direct line of fire.

"It was a little predictable." The red-head said, repositioning her glasses. "Now, her chakra is erratically flying around in random directions. Who knows how long it will take for the spirit to reconnect with its body."

Once again, they were at a disadvantage. Choji had the large guy preoccupied and Shikamaru had a guy caught in his jutsu. However, the girl was open to do just about anything she could to get her teammates out of any danger. The only thing Shikamaru could do was try to bluff his way out. "You know, Choji over there is a pretty capable fighter on his own, I wonder how long your friend will last against him. I also have your other comrade caught in this jutsu of mine and is now unable to move."

"So, you think that my two comrades are pretty much defeated already." The red-haired girl retorted. "I never knew Konoha shinobi were capable of underestimating their opponents this badly." As the red-head finished her comment, the white-haired swordsman burst into a pool of water, reforming next to his red-headed comrade, and breaking Shikamaru's jutsu. "Now there are two of us free." Once again, as the red-head was done talking, Choji was sent flying behind Shikamaru and came crashing down to the ground. "And now, it looks you guys have been completely overpowered."

* * *

Sasuke wandered through the dark hallways of the underground fortress. Although, he exactly were he was going and arrived at his destination quickly and with ease. He came to a large set of double doors that were sealed shut by some jutsu. However, the seal had greatly weakened since Orochimaru's death, and could be easily broken through. Sasuke didn't need to get in through force, though. He already knew the code to get into the room, even though Orochimaru wasn't aware of the fact. He activated the cursed seal to its first level and removed the seal. Since the cursed seal contained both the chakra signatures of Juugo and Orochimaru, when Sasuke removed the seal and entered the room, any traps that would have been set did not activate.

The chamber itself was in the shape of a large dome, with shelves that wrapped around the circle room completely. The only space left open was for the doors that led into the room. A large desk and chair were placed in the middle of the chamber. Sasuke took a glance around at the various scrolls that were packed onto the shelves and made some quick calculations. "It's a good thing Karin gave me this extra scroll." Sasuke exclaimed as a pulled out the first carrier scroll. "If I'm going to take them all, I guess I better get started then."

* * *

**Authors Note: **Well here's the next chapter, barely on time if I might add. I actually finished it last night, but I got distracted when Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood came on and I fell asleep when it was over. (The den in my house has both the computer and a T.V. in it). I also was lazy getting up this moring, and when I came downstairs my mom was on Facebook, and my seven year old sister and five year old brother were playing Kingdom Hearts. (Yes, the PS2 is in the den to, but the PS3 is in the living room hooked up to the plasma, oh yeah!). So I waited till she was done and now I'm on. So, again, please review! To the few I've gotten so far, thank you. My naruhina oneshot got more reviews overnight then this story though. Don't know if that is good for the oneshot, or bad for this story. Oh well. Oh, and before I forget, bella8babe, if you read the summery it says that all the Jinchuuriki have broken away from there villages, including Naruto.


	5. Taka vs Konoha 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto...If I did, it would of happened very differently.

* * *

There situation wasn't looking good in the slightest. Ino was unconscious because of a failed jutsu and Choji just had his ass handed to him and was now trying to stand back after getting the wind knocked out of him. The situation would not have been as bad if Shikamaru or one of the others managed to take out at least one of the opposing shinobi. However, all three managed to come out of the little scuffle unscathed.

So far, Shikamaru was able asses this much about his opponent's ability's. The large, orange-haired man was no doubt the powerhouse of the group, and one with Orochimaru's infamous curse mark as well. Shikamaru could tell instantly that the man's transformed arm was a result of the curse mark, having to have encountered others that used the mark. However, the segmental transformation surprised him. He was not aware that one could manipulate the mark to that extent.

The silver-haired swordsman was, no doubt, an expert in suiton jutsu, seeing as how his body is made nearly entirely of water. The structure of his body was going to prove to be a problem. There aren't many techniques that would help against someone like him. Taijutsu wouldn't be of much help against him since any physical contact could cause him to just turn into water and then reform as if he was never hit. Also, any close combat would be unwise. Considering the large blade he was carrying, one would believe that he would have at least decent kenjutsu skills. The only weakness Shikamaru could think of on the spot was raiton, seeing as how Sakura's attack caused the swordsman to have some difficulty reforming. Unfortunetly, Sakura was the only one in their current group who could use raiton.

Then there was the bespectacled, red-head. Right from the start, Shikamaru knew that this one was a sensory-type shinobi. However, Shikamaru was beginning to second guess this hypothesis. The red-head was able to sense their approach just as any skilled sensor would do, however, her abilities didn't stop there. Without even needing to look, she was able to dodge his and Ino's attack. The red-head dodging his jutsu was not surprising, he actually counted on it. What he didn't anticipate was that the red-head could tell exactly where Ino's attack was coming from and could even keep track of it even after the attack missed. That was something beyond the abilities of your typical sensory-type.

"Choji." Shikamaru whispered to his friend. "I'm going to assume the position. I need you to buy me some time. Can you do that?"

"Of course." Choji answered. "I can buy you all the time in the world."

"Alright, but I only need a couple of minutes. Don't push yourself."

"_Baika no Jutsu!"_ Choji once again activated his signature technique. However, instead on expanding a particular part of his body, his entire body appeared inflated.

"Hey, look, the fatty got fatter." The white-haired shinobi jested, laughing at his own joke.

"I'm not fat!" Choji screamed as he buried his head and limbs into his clothes. _"Nikudan Sensha!"_ His entire body began to spin with increasing velocity. "I'm pleasingly plump!" Choji built up momentum and friction by spinning rapidly in place. Choji then fired himself straight forward at a high velocity. He collided with the swordsman almost instantaneously, causing his entire body turn into water.

"This just isn't your day is it, Suigetsu?" The red-head pointed out.

As this was going on, Shikamaru got into his position. He knelt down on one knee, and cupped his hands together. Anyone that didn't know Shikamaru well would mistake this as him making a hand sign. However, those who did know him knew that this was just a little habit of his. As he stayed in this position, his mind would predict any scenario, calculated from hundreds of actions and the consequences of those actions arising from his current situation.

Choji gave out a loud war cry as he stopped to shift his direction. He began to roll toward the red-head, but this strike was nowhere near the same speed and force as Choji's initial strike at Suigetsu. The large one stepped in between Choji and his comrade, focused the curse mark in his right arm and struck. The force of the impact was strong as it caused Choji's advance to stop completely, even to point that it stopped his rotation. However, Choji used this to his advantage has he used the large one's arm as a makeshift ramp and launched himself into the air. As Choji was air born, He began to increase his velocity at an incredible rate.

"Karin, move!" The large one yelled, as he shoved her out of the way. Choji came straight down toward them, but the large one caught him as he activated the mark in both his arms. He got a hold of Choji and flung him away, in the opposite direction of Shikamaru, who was no getting out of his stance. Unfortunately, the entrance to the hideout was in that direction, and was destroyed and buried as Choji came into contact with it. The large one nervously looked back at his four-eyed companion. "Uh, oops?"

"Oops my ass!" Karin began yelling. "You just destroyed the only entrance in and out of there, Juugo! You shouldn't be so careless!"

"I'm sorry." Juugo said apologetically, as he hung his head down in shame.

Shikamaru picked up Ino's unconscious body and supported her on his back. "Choji!" Shikamaru called out to his friend. Choji weakly waved his arm in the air to show he was all right. "Follow me." Shikamaru dashed out onto the lake and Choji quickly followed behind.

* * *

Karin and Juugo only watched in confusion as the shadow-user run out toward the lake, carrying the unconscious blonde with him, and the one called Choji not far behind.

"Where do those assholes think they're going?" Karin and Juugo turned to see Suigetsu had reformed already and he did not look like one happiest people right know. "Morons, running out into open water like that."

"Yeah, you'd think that after beating you down to nothing but a puddle of water so many times they would catch that you're expertise is in suiton jutsu." Karin commented, hitting two birds with one stone, insulting both Konoha and Suigetsu at the same time.

"Tch, whatever, it's not like it matters now anyway." Suigetsu tightened the grip on his sword as rushed out into the water. "They're all dead if they think they can beat me in my own territory."

"Wait a minute, Suigetsu!" Karin called out in protest. "That idiot, he can't just run out recklessly like that."

"Well, this area is ideal for someone like him." Juugo commented. "I guess you would expect him to be a little careless. Besides, in this terrain, how much damage can these Konoha shinobi do to him?"

"AH!" Juugo had spoken too soon because Suigetsu had just stepped on a miniature underwater mine. The mine caused Suigetsu to lose some of his leg, and stumbled backward, just to step on another mine. Suigetsu continued to blunder as multiple mines began to detonate in a chain right under him.

"He should have anticipated that they would attempt something like this." Karin stated, then turning her head toward Juugo. "Do you think he's…?"

"Well there's only one way to know." Juugo and Karin then headed out in Suigetsu's direction, only to confirm their own suspicions. Sure enough, Suigetsu was knocked unconscious and had turned into a blob of water with a humanoid form. Karin and Juugo were sort of just staring down at him.

"You know, Karin, I think we should have seen this coming."

"What are you talking about? I saw this coming a mile away." Karin replied as she noticed that the shadow manipulating shinobi came into view with both his comrades behind him. The blonde had now regained consciousness.

"Well, it looks like we have the upper hand now." The shadow-user said. "Honestly, I didn't think that would of worked, but that comrade of yours seemed like a real hot-head, so I took a little gamble. I'm glad it paid off so well." He signaled toward Choji and he charged once again at Juugo with both arms expanded. Juugo returned the gesture by activated both his arms as well.

"Well, I thought you would have something new in mind, but it seems that your strategy hasn't really changed all that much." Karin commented, with the slightest hint of disappointment.

"Well you sound pretty confident." The shadow-user shot back.

"Of course I do." Karin replied. "If think that either of you will be able to hit me with the techniques you're using, then I have nothing to fret over. Also, as for your fat friend, you already know that he can't beat Juugo in a one-on-one fist fight. We practically have this fight in the bag."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." The shadow-user warned. "Anyway, I've already noticed that you're a sensory-type, but there is something that is bothering me. You were able to track Ino's jutsu and evade it with little effort. Don't you think that kind of goes beyond the abilities of your average sensor?"

Karin allowed a small grin to escape. "Yeah well, normally I don't reveal my abilities to my opponents so willing, but seeing as any of you won't be making out of here alive, I guess I should give myself some bragging rights." Karin repositioned her glasses before beginning her explanation. "I guess the best way to explain it is that I don't just sense, I see. After being an assistant in many of Orochimaru's experiments, I saw the natural abilities of many greatly enhanced. I became increasingly interested in my own abilities as a sensor and the potential it had. I proposed my own experiment to Orochimaru, with myself as the test subject. I wanted to push the boundaries of chakra sensory, and the result was nothing less than extraordinary. By pushing the limits of the human mind, I was able to beyond simply sensing chakra. I had acquired the ability of sight; chakra sight that can be said to rival even the Sharingan and the Byakugan." Of course, some of this is exaggerated. Karin sight may be enough to rival those specific kekkei-genkai, but her abilities are far from the same level as them. For one thing, not only could she not accurately see the Keirakukei or the Tenketsu, but she has a much larger blind spot then the Byakugan as well. Starting from the back of her neck, Karin's blind spot reaches a measure of 45 degrees. Also, she can pick up ninjutsu and genjutsu within her chakra sight, but the perceptiveness that the Sharingan has over taijutsu is something beyond Karin's abilities.

"Again, you shouldn't be declaring your victory so early in the fight." The shadow-user got into position as he readied his Kagemane no Jutsu. His shadow extended straight forward toward Karin, who easily evaded the technique.

Karin was already beginning to suspect the shinobis' plan. She theorized that the shadow-user wasn't planning on catching her at all. He was just trying to maneuver her around until he would put her into a position where she can't move, then have the one called Ino use her astral projection thing to finish her off. "Fine, I'll play your little game." Karin whispered under her breath, accepting the challenge.

The shinobi's shadow would move, and Karin would dodge. It continued like this for a while. All the while, Karin was paying close attention to Juugo's and Choji's little bout. The first time, Juugo clearly had the upper hand, but now, Choji had stepped up his effort and was fighting on par with Juugo. This made Karin a little worried. She was hoping on Juugo to finish off that fatso so he could help out with her own predicament. She could evade all she wanted, but she couldn't make any counter-attack. It was a position she wasn't comfortable with.

All of a sudden, a large explosion could be heard down the coast of the lake. This distraction was exactly what the Konoha shinobi needed. As Juugo let his guard down just slightly to glance back, Choji quickly grabbed his left arm and swept behind him, locking Juugo in a Full Nelson.

"Ino, now!" Choji ordered.

"Right!" Ino reacted immediately and got into position. _"Shintenshin no Jutsu!"_ Ino formed the hand sign and initiated the jutsu, which then successfully connected to Juugo.

"Juugo…" Karin thought Ino would aim for her, but Juugo was the real target. It makes sense, Juugo was easily the strongest in their group. He would obviously be the one to concentrate on first. Although, those Konoha shinobi were lucky, if Juugo's schizophrenia had kicked in… "…Wait! You don't know what you're doing!" Karin yelled as she tried to stop them, but she couldn't move. Karin looked behind her and saw a thin shadow and connected to her own. Has Karin became distracted with her teammate, the shadow user had slipped into her blind spot.

"Well, it looks like you just ran out of luck." The shadow-user bragged. "Both of your teammates have been knocked out and you are now caught within my shadow." The shadow-user stopped as he noticed Karin was trembling. "Why are you so nervous? We're not going to kill you. We'll take you three as prisoners, sure, but we won't kill you."

Karin turned and glared back at him. "You guys…have no idea what you've done." Karin's eyes showed two distinct emissions at this moment. One was anger, the other, was fear. Pure and complete fear.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…!"Juugo's calm demeanor was erased as his barbaric killer instinct began to reach out from his mind and into the outside world. "Who…who should I kill first?" Juugo then snapped his head back, connecting with Choji's face. This caused Choji to lose his grip on Juugo. "How about you, fatty." Juugo taunted, sporting a large demonic grin.

"I'm not fat!" Choji charged at Juugo, but Juugo was quicker. Juugo's fist came into contact with Choji's head, sending him flying down, skipping across the water. Juugo then turned toward the only Konoha shinobi left. "You're next." Juugo began his charge.

"Damn." The shadow-user broke his connection with Karin and switched his attention toward Juugo. Since Juugo was using nothing more then killer intent as a fighting style, he kept charging toward the shinobi, completely unaware of his shadow.

The shinobi made contact with Juugo's shadow, which halted his advance. For a moment, the shadow manipulator was saved. However, Juugo's elbow opened and a jet of flames shot out. The force of the flames was too much for the shinobi to handle as Juugo broke the jutsu out of sheer willpower.

Karin was sure that the last Konoha ninja would be dead in just a few moments, but she would be incorrect. Right before Juugo could make contact with the shinobi, a white and blue blur shot down between them. The next thing Karin knew, Juugo had a large gash down his upper body and the Konoha shinobi was in the air, being in the chin.

Himihime pulled out a small sheet of paper that had a seal printed on it, and forced it onto Juugo's forehead. This caused Juugo to lose consciousness and release Ino's spirit from his body. Himihime sighed. "Was it really that much trouble to complete one simple assignment?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Early release, yay! I've been able to work on this a lot more often in the morning. While the juniors are in the middle of state testing, I have extra time to work on my chapters. I would be able to upload this at school, but fanfiction is blocked there. (Seriously, our internet filter is more strict then China's!) Do you guys know what fanfiction has been labeled as to get blocked? It's been labeled as an adult website! That's right, not only do they block fanfiction, but they give a total bogus reason for doing so. It's not just fanfiction either, all game and manga sites are blocked to. However, the game thing is no longer a problem anymore. I have recently come into possession of something called Project64. It's a program that has been spreading around my school, and you can play games like Mario Kart and Supur Smash Brothers. Oh how it made me reminisce, where 64 bit was the newest thing in gaming, providing you with games like Super Mario World 64, LOZ: Ocarina of Time, and Pokemon Stadium. The good old days, right poeple? Anyway, rate and review, and thanks to all who have so far!


	6. Sasuke vs Sakura

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto...do I have to say this everytime?

* * *

Sasuke was on his knees and began rolling up the last of the carrier scrolls that Karin had given him. He had been able to fill the scrolls with every single scroll that were resting on the shelves. The last one still had a few space left yet to fill. Sasuke quickly tied together the three scrolls and packed them away. He had quickened his pace as he had heard a large amount of commotion coming from outside. From what he could tell, someone had managed to get into the hideout, while Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo were preoccupied. He had patiently waited while gathering the scrolls together, for the one who snuck in to make a move. Although, there has been no sign so far of anyone attempting to approach him with hostility.

However, Sasuke has not been entirely focused on the mission at hand. His mind has often drifted toward Naruto. Truth be told, what Karin told him earlier did upset him slightly. As he had said to the rest of the group, he was always able to see past that big, goofy grin of his. Sasuke had always been able to see the mask Naruto wore when they were younger. He saw the pain of the loneliness that Naruto tried to hide. Naruto never had anyone to call family, well, until he had come to befriend both Sasuke and Itachi. Sasuke and Naruto would train together since Itachi was always busy. Occasionally, Itachi would observe and sometimes even instruct some of their training sessions.

Sasuke and Naruto were always close and they remained so even after the Uchiha Massacre and all the way through their academy days. Nobody ever understood why they were such close friends, and whenever someone would ask them about it they both always responded with "I know his pain." Even with that said, everyone could only see what they observed, and that was a loud-mouthed blonde idiot and a cool, handsome genius. To everyone, they were complete opposites and it didn't really look as though they could get along like they did. No one else could grasp just how well the two of them could understand each other.

Now, it was different. Karin wasn't the only one who had trouble with anticipating Naruto's intentions. When they met at the bridge, Sasuke could still see the stupid grin Naruto wore was nothing more than a way to mask his true feelings. However, he couldn't see beyond that, Naruto was now a complete mystery to him. He couldn't tell whether the pain that had connected them was still present within Naruto. Even right now, as Sasuke was collecting a large amount of Orochimaru's most valuable information, he could not tell Naruto's intentions. There were so many different materials that these scrolls covered; there is no way of knowing what one would want to learn from all this information. So, what was dominating Sasuke's thoughts was not what the mission was, but why. What was Naruto planning? Sasuke racked his brain but couldn't come up with anything. It didn't matter, when this mission was over, Sasuke was going to have a long talk with Naruto.

Sasuke began to rise from his current position and started to head out. As he took his first step, he had already begun to feel the constricting feeling around his body. Sasuke was aware the intruder was present and conducting the current jutsu, all he needed was to wait for a proper opening. Soon, Sasuke's entire body began to freeze up. This would be the perfect opportunity for any enemy shinobi to make their move, and sure enough, Sasuke could hear the intruder charging him from behind. Sharingan activated, Sasuke dodged a punch, which would have hit him square in the back of the head, by just a couple inches. Sasuke pivoted and quickly leaped backward to give some distance between him and the intruder.

"The Kanashibari no Jutsu, huh?" Sasuke said to his attacker. "Honestly, I'm a little impressed. I hear that particular jutsu is quite popular among Konoha ANBU. However, you should have known that a jutsu like that wouldn't work against a Sharingan user, Sakura." The pink-haired kunoichi only stared Sasuke down, not giving him the satisfaction of a response. "What? No, 'Sasuke-kun.' No, 'Please, come back.'" Sasuke's taunting did not give him the exact desired effect, but Sakura still made a head-on charge toward him. She was fast, surprisingly fast. Although, having his Sharingan activated; evading the assault was child's play. However, if he didn't have his Sharingan, then he might have been in trouble.

Sakura's fist came crashing into one of the now empty shelves that were built in around the chamber. As he dodged, Sasuke completely analyzed Sakura's attack. "Empowering your taijutsu by utilizing your high chakra control to focus your chakra to a designated body part, your fighting style hasn't changed a bit. If this is going to be anything like our old training sessions, then I've got nothing to worry about." Sasuke paused as Sakura still only glared as a response, not even retracting her fist from the wall. "Although," Sasuke continued, "the raiton is new. I didn't know you had an affinity for lightening."

Sakura ripped her arm from the wall, causing a portion to crumble to the ground. She quickly pulled out a small scroll and unwrapped it. Sakura placed her right hand on a seal and concentrated her chakra. Dragging it out by the hilt, Sakura revealed a large blade. The sword was large, easily measured as Sakura's own height and width, if not a little less. The hilt had a simple design; the grip was a light brown color with little or no significant design, while the guard formed a perfect square starting at the bottom of the grip to where the grip met the blade. The blade itself was double-edged and closure toward the tip, both sides of the blade made a forty-five degree angle and met at the exact center.

"Well, that's new." Sasuke commented. "I don't remember you carrying a blade like that. What happened to the old one?"

"It broke." Sakura bluntly responded with an expressionless face.

"Oh, well that's a shame." Sasuke slowly moved his left hand back and began to grip onto his own katana. "Anyway, let's test out this new sword of yours."

"You don't…" Sakura could no longer contain herself as her anger began to boil over. She rushed at Sasuke once again, with the same speed she displayed earlier. However, this time Sasuke had a little more trouble countering the attack, as he only had enough time to block the attack rather than evade. Sasuke had unsheathed his katana as quickly as he could, but he still only managed to unsheathe enough of the blade in order to block. The two blades clashed as sparks and rouge electric charges sprung from the contact, each blade flowing with ration. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this!" Sakura exclaimed as she shoved Sasuke back by using the force of her much larger sword.

Both now at a good distance from the other, Sasuke and Sakura both stood their ground. Sasuke trying to intimidate his opponent by using his bright-red Sharingan, only to have his opponent meat his glare with her own set of emerald-green eyes. Then, they each made their move. The two shinobi rushed each other, clashing swords in a wild frenzy. The echoing sounds of beating steel filled the chamber. Sasuke used the advantage of the speed of his smaller weapon to attempt to gain the upper hand. However, Sakura countered by keeping her attacks small and tight rather then wide strikes that would leave her open. She would hold the hilt of the sword constantly in the upper area of her body, while she used her left hand to guide the blade in the direction she desired. Sasuke noticed this and began to become a little worried. Sakura's kenjutsu had improved greatly in the past three years. But, in their current situation, Sakura was able to successfully and skillfully counter Sasuke but not counter-attack, as it would leave her open if her attack failed. All he needed to do was push her until he found a proper opening.

Sasuke and Sakura continued their dance of steel with neither letting down their guard. Although, Sasuke seemed to have started to try to conquer the flow of the battle. He knew that compared to his own blade; Sakura's was more difficult to control and required much more energy to use. If Sasuke would just pressure her enough, Sakura would be forced into a scenario where she would need to counter-attack and risk letting down her guard for just a split second, and that small window of time was all Sasuke would need. However, this was easier said then down. Unless Sasuke would falter in some way that would guarantee a successful attack, Sakura would not make any move.

So, Sasuke allowed himself to misstep, creating a false impression of an opening. Sakura took this as her opportunity and immediately began her attack. She knelt down and swung wide and low, hoping to take out Sasuke's legs. It would have succeeded if Sasuke had not immediately reacted by jamming his katana into the ground, halting Sakura's attack. Before Sakura could pull back, Sasuke knelt down and rapidly began to weave hand signs, preparing his jutsu.

"_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"_ Sasuke inhaled heavily, and breathed a large and fantastic flame from his mouth. The jutsu was aimed at point-blank range and was nearly impossible to evade. For a few seconds, all Sasuke could see were searing flames that had engulfed his vision. He held the jutsu until satisfied. Sasuke stopped the jutsu and surveyed the damage. Sakura had nearly no time to counter, so Sasuke was expecting some form of a charred body or corpse, depending on the outcome. Neither of these things did Sasuke see as he observed nothing more then a pile of ash and burnt wood. There was no doubt that Sakura had used the Kawarimi no Jutsu, but when could have she utilized it. Sasuke only gave her a few seconds as an opening, and she used that to attack him.

Sasuke's question would soon be answered as he heard a familiar chirping sound above him. Sasuke moved immediately, just missing Sakura's attack. Sasuke had expected a typical Chidori, since it was obvious that Kakashi was the one to teach Sakura raiton. This was incorrect, as with a normal Chidori, ones hand would be flattened out because that form produced less pressure on the target allowing the jutsu to pierce its enemy with ease. Sakura's attack did in fact generate the same amount of raiton necessary for the Chidori, but she kept her hand has a fist. As Sakura's fist came in contact with the ground, a large crater formed with her arm as the epicenter.

"You purposefully made yourself open." Sakura had begun to slowly rise, removing her arm from the floor. "And believed I had allowed myself to drop my guard." Sasuke glared at her in agitation. She knew Sasuke feinted and used that to create an opening of her own. "You are skilled, Sasuke, but lets face it. Your kenjutsu and ninjutsu haven't changed much in these past few years. From the moment this battle started, your actions were very predictable." Sakura had been holding her sword in her left hand and now she shifted it back to her proper hand and prepared to continue the battle. "I'm a Jounin of Konoha now and such tactics won't work on me."

Sasuke glared at Sakura, still slightly agitated. Then Sasuke's attitude changed, and a sneer crept up across his face. "Well then, it seems I haven't been treating you with the proper respect, Jounin." Sasuke said, putting a strong emphasis on the last word. "I hope you can forgive my rudeness. Since you seem so proud of your rank, I will now try to treat you as I would treat any other Konoha Jounin." Sasuke attempted to sound polite as possible, but the sarcasm in his voice was undeniable. "I hope you're ready."

"_Chidori Eisou!"_ A long stream of lightning shot out from Sasuke's hand at an incredible speed. Sakura side-stepped the attack and charged at Sasuke. Sasuke tried to strike Sakura with his Chidori, but she countered by holding up her sword as a shield. She charged her blade with raiton and continued to rush down toward Sasuke while scraping her sword along Sasuke's Chidori. When she finally reached him, Sakura parried off Sasuke's Chidori, causing him to fumble back a little. Sakura brought up her sword and swung down with as much force as shield could muster. The result of the attack was Sakura destroying the ground beneath her, as Sasuke had leapt into the air and landed behind Sakura. She quickly pivoted around and swung her blade upward, and Sasuke just evaded. Sakura took another few large, wide swings and Sasuke continued to move backward as he dodged every strike. The two of them reached the center of the chamber and Sasuke brought up his sword to block Sakura's next blow.

"Jeez, you always were the violent one." Sasuke taunted as his and Sakura's blades were locked together in struggle. "I mean, can you just not help yourself, or do you actually enjoy destroying your surroundings."

Sakura gave a small smirk to this remark. "Destroying my surroundings, huh? That…actually sounds like a good idea." Sasuke was confused by this, until he decided to look more closely with his Sharingan. Sakura began to build up a large amount all around her body, and it being manipulated into raiton. Sasuke could sense that she was about to release it and quickly parried Sakura's blade and recoiled a good distance back.

"_Chidori Nagashi!"_ A large current of electricity became to form around Sakura's body. It slowly began to grow at a quickening rate, until it reached around the entire area of the chamber. For just a second, Sasuke was caught in the current and his body became stiff. However, just as the current hit, it vanished. The raiton had begun to focus on ten points around the high wall that wrapped around the room. Sasuke wasn't sure what was going on, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it anyway since was momentarily paralyzed.

"It seems your confused, Sasuke." Sakura gloated. "Well, you see, there's this thing called remote detonation." Sakura sneered at Sasuke as he put it together and cursed at his own helplessness as the underground chamber was instantly filled with a large deafening sound, following by a wave of cascading water as the roof of the chamber gave in on itself.

Sakura broke the surface of the lake that hid the large underground fortress. She crawled out of the water and let out a series of coughs as she had held her breath for a long period of time. She didn't know what became of Sasuke when the rushing water had begun to fill the chamber. All she could think about was trying to find a way out. Luckily, since one of her expertise was in suiton, she was able to escape the current and head straight for the surface. The same couldn't be said for Sasuke, who after being hit by the Chidori Nagashi, was unable to move and us most likely caught in the wild current.

Sakura stood and viewed her surroundings. She could see that the coastline was not to far off, but the entrance she came in by was much farther down the coast. She was still gripping her sword, as she was able to escape while still holding on to it. Also, she didn't really have the proper time to put it away. Anyway, it was better that she still had it, because Sakura was absolutely sure Sasuke was still alive, and she was waiting for him to resurface. It would be a shame if the battle had ended as anti-climatic as this. And, just as Sakura was finishing this thought, she heard something like an object rushing out of the water. Sasuke had escaped the chamber and was now preparing to attack Sakura from behind. Sakura instinctively turned around, and quickly formed the proper hand-signs.

"_Suirou no Jutsu!"_ stretched out her left hand and captured Sasuke within a large ball of water. But, as soon as she utilized the jutsu, the Sasuke she believed to have captured began to dissolve and formed into a group of snakes. The snakes then lashed out and coiled themselves around Sakura, making her immobile. The real Sasuke then emerged from the water in front of Sakura and quickly and skillfully slashed the captured Sakura in two. For a brief moment, Sasuke internally congratulated himself and his victory, but the one he believed to be Sakura burst into a thousand droplets of water and scattered back into the lake.

"Nice substitution." Sakura commented as she emerged from the lake, behind Sasuke, and took a wide and powerful strike toward his left side.

"I could say the same." Sasuke said, blocking Sakura's attack with his own sword, and returning the compliment. Although, something didn't quite feel right. He had his Sharingan activated, and yet, he was so sure that the Sakura he cut was the real one. Sasuke parried away Sakura's sword, and Sakura leaped backward and began to form numerous amount of hand-signs. When she landed back on the water, Sakura finished the last hand sign and initiated the jutsu.

"_Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"_ A large dragon, completely composed of water, began to form above Sakura. When it had completed itself, the water dragon shot straight for Sasuke. Sasuke barely managed to avoid being swept away by the ferocity of the water, and as he dodged the suiton jutsu, he began to charge straight for Sakura. However, Sakura beat him to it. Sasuke didn't even see her coming. Just as Sasuke evaded the jutsu, Sakura was right there waiting for him, sword in hand, and ready to strike. Sakura began to attack Sasuke with much greater strength and speed, Sasuke could barely keep up deflecting with his own sword.

Something was definitely off. Sasuke should have the upper hand in this situation, but Sakura was overpowering him completely. It just wasn't right. At the beginning, seeing through Sakura's attacks was child's play, but now, Sasuke just couldn't keep track of her movements. Then, the next thing Sasuke knew, he had a deep cut on his left shoulder. Sakura had exerted a little extra strength into her downward thrust, and broke through Sasuke's guard, causing her to be able to graze him on the shoulder. Sakura then took this small window of opportunity to fold her left hand into a fist, took aim, and let it fly. Her fist connected with Sasuke's cheekbone, and sent him crashing into the water.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, seeing Sasuke on his knees rubbing his cheek. Sasuke was internally cursing her and his Sharingan. Why wasn't it working, he had failed to see through any of her attacks. Sasuke then saw a small sneer appear on Sakura's face. "Is your Sharingan not working?" Sakura mocked.

"Tch." She knew? How could she know that? Sasuke was becoming a little paranoid. He was beginning to think Sakura, of all people, was somehow responsible for his Sharingan malfunction.

"I could tell you why it's not working."

The anger and shock that was appearing on Sasuke's face was unmistakable as he slowly got himself back to his feet. "What did you do?"

"I just cast a genjutsu on you, that's all." Sakura said with a cocky grin on her face.

"Impossible! The Sharingan can break through all genjutsu." Sasuke was turning into a rage as Sakura continued to stand in front of him with an aura of arrogance around her.

"I guess it does need a little bit of an explanation. Yes, it is a genjutsu, but this one is special. I created it to specifically counter Sharingan. Like a virus that directly attacks ones immune system, this genjutsu attacks and negates the Sharingan directly." Sakura paused for a second. "The truth is Sasuke, your Sharingan has been inactive this entire time."

"Don't give me bullshit!" Sasuke spat back. "I could sense your chakra earlier back in the chamber!"

Sakura sighed has she raised her sword and pointed it toward Sasuke. "Tell me, Sasuke, how far am I standing from you at this very moment."

"A couple meters."

"Are you sure." Then Sakura suddenly appeared right in front of Sasuke, the point of her blade just milimeters from his face. Sakura did not hesitate in thrusting her sword forward, leaving Sasuke little time to evade. He ducked just in time. Sasuke continued to fall back until his hands reached the surface of the water. He swung his body up, and kicked Sakura's sword out of the way as as he landed on his legs. Sasuke leaped back in order to create distance. Then, using his chakra sight, he saw a vision of Sakura attacking him from behind.

"No, you don't!" Sasuke swung his sword back, hoping to cut Sakura in two. However, she wasn't there.

"Now I'm behind you." Sasuke teleported as he panicked, right before Sakura would of lunged her large blade right through Sasuke's upper body. "You put too much trust in those eyes of yours Sasuke. This genjutsu of mine disrupts your chakra sight. I can allow you to see normally, shut it off completely, or even fabricate a vision to mislead you. I told you that I've been waiting for this for a long time. You honestly thought I wouldn't come prepared."

"Screw you!" Sasuke charged Sakura, Chidori ready. Just as Sasuke's attack was about to pierce Sakura's skull, Sakura dodged down toward the right and grabbed Sasuke's arm. Sakura charged her Chidori within her left hook, hitting Sasuke in his ribcage. Sasuke gave out a scream of agony as he was sent soaring toward the coastline, skipping across the water until he came crashing down onto land. He coughed up blood as he attempted to get back up to his feet.

"You shouldn't underestimate me!" Once again, before Sasuke could react, Sakura right in front of him, bearing her raiton charged fist, this one aiming for Sasuke's head. She was close, she was right there, inches away from giving the final strike, when suddenly her attack was stopped. It wasn't just stopped either, but the raiton she had charged in her fist had disappeared. When her shock finally left, she saw a figure dress in a hooded, crimson red coat zipped down halfway and he had caught Sakura's attack in his right hand.

"Well now, were you prepared for this?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** All right, late update, sorry. I saw Crazy Heart this morning OnDemand with my mom and stepdad. (My sister was still sleeping, heh.) It was really good, no surprise it won an Oscar. At the end of it they started to play an original song for the movie called, well, Crazy Heart. It was one of those that really get to you, right here *points to heart*. I'm dead serious, I could feal it, my mom also, but it moved my stepdad to TEARS. It was a sight to behold. I mean, Crazy Heart was his kind of movie. Anyway, it got me starting to think about the movie's I cried to. I'm sure there are more, but the one's I could remeber on the top of my head were Old Yeller, Armageddon, and Bridge to Terebithia. Bridge to Terebithia made me cry, I remember, because when the one girl died, it made me remember when I read the book in fifth grade, which also made my cry. My point is, you know that movie/book is amazing if it can move you to tears, and don't let anyone tell you it's girlie to cry, cause it's not! (I'm a guy.) Anyway, a note that is actually about my story. I decided to have Sakura to be skilled, very skilled. One, because it is necessary for the plot, and two, who else is tired of seeing Sakura turned into some useless, whiny, bitch in just about any scenario she's been in. Sure, she did well against Sasori, but if it wasn't for Granny Chiyo, she would have been pwned. Then she decides to kill Sasuke on her own, you started to give her a little more respect, then she said she wanted to join him, then you started to lose respect for her, then you learn she just used that as an excuse to get close enough to kill him, so she redeemed her self, then she destroyed every last bit of dignity she had when she burst into tears when she didn't have the guts to do the job. I mean what the hell man. So here is a chapter dedicated to all those really wanted to see Sakura _accomplish_ something, on her own, for once in her life. Rate and Review.


	7. Enter! Himihime!

Back down the lake, Himihime had interrupted the struggle between Taka and Team 10. As Naruto ordered, she kept watch over the mission, hidden in the background. In all honesty, she didn't really have any high hopes for Taka, but if her senpai had use for them, she couldn't complain. Actually, she was kind of hoping that they would fail, so that Naruto would see how useless they are and it would be just her and senpai again. There were two others that completed a four man group with Himihime and Naruto, but they were not always 'present'. So, normally it was just her and senpai.

Himihime skimmed over her surroundings, analyzing the situation. Taka was pretty much done. Suigetsu was just a lifeless puddle of water at the moment. Juugo's mind was sealed away and had a large gash done his upper body, stretching from his right shoulder to his left hip. Karin was the only one not out of commission, Unfortunetly she wasn't much of a fighter. Konoha still had all there players on field, and currently had the advantage. Shikamaru had reacted immediately to Himihime's assault by using the force of her kick to lean backwards and land a few feet from her. Choji had struggled to get up after Juugo's attack, but he was still capable of fighting. Ino regained consciousness and had joined with Choji.

Naruto had already heavily informed Himihime about his former comrades and their abilities. She didn't know how much her senpai's comrades had improved over the years, but it didn't matter to her. Most of them used jutsu that was clan specific. Shikamaru was a member of the Nara clan, who specialized in manipulating their own shadows to immobilize the opponent and could either attack the caught person themselves or wait for a teammate to make their move. Ino belong to the Yamanaka clan; mainly used for interrogation purposes, their main ability is sending their psych through a stream of chakra that they send into their opponent. From there, they can either dig around in someone's mind in order to extract information or completely subdue their opponent's psych and gain control over their body. Choji's specialty, belonging to the Akimichi clan, was to utilize the large amount of calories within his body in order to expand any portion of their body. They use this to focus on taijutsu that was overall heavy and powerful but generally slow. Himihime saw the three of them as a bunch of one trick ponies, and didn't really view them in high regard. She sheathed her sword, not believing that she would need it. Then, Himihime gave a heavy sigh as she began to drag Juugo's unconscious body, by the arm, through the water.

"Hey, let go of me!" Karin yelled as Himihime had gotten a hold of her also as she grabbed the back of her collar.

"Where's Suigetsu?"

"He's over there." Karin pointed a few good meters down toward the coast, at the unconscious blob that was Suigetsu.

"Alright." Himihime looked back toward Shikamaru and his group. "I'll be getting these losers out of our way. It would do you some good to come up with some plan before I get back. I wouldn't want this to be over too quickly." And with that, Himihime, carrying Karin and Juugo, shunshined out of sight.

She was arrogant, but Shikamaru knew that she was right. They needed a decent battle plan if they wanted to get even a chance at a victory. Most people would most likely underestimate the girl because of her age, and Shikamaru had seen many fall for that very reason. He knew that her age gave her a strong advantage as he could tell that she likely a lot stronger than most would give her credit for. His base for this was that not only did she perfectly time her attack in order to counter both his attack and Juugo's, but she did it without anyone even noticing her presence. Shikamaru had no doubt in his mind that she was watching the entire fight, waiting for her chance to attack. This meant that she has already gotten a pretty good look at their abilities and jutsu coordination. While, on the other hand, they knew nothing about her abilities. She undoubtedly had good kenjutsu skills, but other than that, they had nothing else to go on. Even before the fight had started, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were already at a disadvantage.

"So, Shikamaru, what's the plan?" Choji asked.

"C'mon, Choji. We don't need a plan." Ino said, putting in her two cents. "Especially against such a cocky little girl like that."

"No, there is much more to that girl then meets the eye." Shikamaru said. "We know that she is definitely skilled with that sword of hers. Also, she was hiding within the lake over the duration of our fight with Sasuke's lackeys. One would believe that she has some ability in suiton."

"So then, we should try to change the terrain. If we stay here we would just be at a disadvantage." Choji suggested.

"I don't think she would let us. If we try to make a premature, it would just provoke her to put more effort on her part. I don't think putting pressure on her that quickly would wise." Shikamaru paused for a second to think. "If we give her the advantage she wants, then she might become careless, and from there she might make the mistake that we need." Shikamaru knelt down and got down into his position. He wasn't down very long, as he got back up in only about ten seconds.

"Wow, done already. This must be a record." Ino chimed. "Is she just someone who is easy to read?"

"No, there's just not that much we can do with so little information." Shikamaru replied. "Now, I do have a plan though. Do either of you remember my match against Temari from the Chuunin Exams?"

Ino and Choji both replied positively. "Good cause this is what I have in mind." Shikamaru signaled for Ino and Choji to come in closer so that he could inform them of the plan. Shikamaru then began to explain the plan in detail. Ino and Choji listened intently, taking in every word Shikamaru was telling them. It wasn't long before Shikamaru was finished. "So, do you all understand?"

"I hope so; it's pretty simple isn't it?" Ino said.

"Like I said, I don't have much to work with on this one." Just as Shikamaru finished that sentence, he saw a familiar white and blue blur appearing right in the middle of their huddle.

"Move!" Shikamaru ordered has he, Choji, and Ino quickly leaped back from Himihime creating distance.

"I'm back." Himihime said in a matter-fact-tone.

"Your timing was near perfect." Shikamaru complimented sarcastically.

"Not really, you guy's weren't done talking so I waiting until you were done."

"You're pretty confident."

"You would be to if you knew what I know."

"And what do you know."

"Sorry, classified." Himihime was done talking, as she charged Shikamaru gripping her sheathed sword. As she reached him, Himihime unsheathed her sword and swung her blade horizontally, aiming for Shikamaru's waist. Shikamaru was barely able to dodge the assault, as Himihime was able to graze him just a little. She didn't let up. Himihime continued to strike at Shikamaru at incredible speed and skill. As expected, she was incredibly skilled in kenjutsu. Shikamaru had a hard time keeping up with her attacks. She even managed to get a few good scratches as Shikamaru continued to evade. As he was being pushed into a corner, Shikamaru drew a kunai so he could deflect Himihime's attacks instead of just evading them. However, this proved to be ineffective.

"You're too naïve." Himihime commented as her katana cut right through Shikamaru's kunai. Shikamaru immediately recognized the technique, and jumped out of the way so he would not sustain damage.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to run fuuton through your sword."

"How are you sure that I am using fuuton."

"Because our Jounin leader from when we were Genin used the same tactic, but he used a different weapon." Shikamaru answered. "He used two large knifes instead of a katana."

"Well, that was a little more detail then I needed. You didn't have to tell me all of that."

"No, I kind of did. It wouldn't be stalling if I didn't try to distract you as long as possible."

"Huh?" Even before Shikamaru finished his sentenced, Choji was already prepared to attack. His right arm was expanded and was just a few inches away from crushing Himihime down into the water. However, just as Choji was about to strike, Himihime disappeared from sight. Shikamaru and Choji had completely lost sight of her.

"Above you!" Ino yelled from the sidelines.

"Death from above." Himihime said, expressionlessly, as she swung her blade down toward Choji. Thanks to Ino's warning, Choji was able to just barely dodge the attack. Choji got some distance between him and Himihime, making her current position between Choji and Shikamaru, a good few feet from both of them.

"_Baika no Jutsu!"_ Choji followed up this technique with another. _"Nikudan Sensha!"_ Choji's body began to rotate rapidly, and started to charge straight toward Himihime.

"_Kaze no Yaiba!"_ A thin, crescent shaped blade of chakra shot out from Himihime's blade as she swung her katana at an acute angle. The chakra blade was heading right at Choji's large rotating body, and the chakra was sharp enough to cut right through him. Choji evaded the attack by forcing his rotating body down into the water, then, the water pressure forced his buoyant body back up through the surface, high into the air. As Choji hit the peak of the ark, he used gravity to his advantage and his large round body fell down hard and fast.

"_Suiton: Suitengai!"_ A dome of thick, high-pressured water formed around Himihime. The shield was strong, and the full force of Choji's attack. He was unable to make dent in Himihime's offenses.

"_Fuuton: Kamatatsumaki!"_ The dome of water broke as a fierce tornado shot up from Himihime's position. The force of the cyclone of wind forced Choji back, sending him flying. As the tornado dissipated, Shikamaru noticed that Himihime had vanished, using the vortex as a decoy.

"_Suiton: Suigadan!"_ Twelve rotating drills formed from the surface of the lake, four for each of the Konoha shinobi. Shikamaru and Ino both were able to evade the jutsu. However, Choji was hit because he was still recovering from being knocked back by Himihime's fuuton. The drills missed any vital spots, but Choji was still seriously injured. He was pretty cut up and his leg had a huge gash, making it difficult to stand. Himihime slowly began to rise up from the surface of the lake.

"Come on, I was really hoping for more from you guys. I've already cut down your group by a third, and I haven't even begun to try yet." Himihime wasn't being sarcastic and she wasn't trying to taunt them. She was legitimately disappointed. Himihime had honestly thought that they would have been able to counter her at some point, but all they've done so far was run away and hurl a giant meatball at her. Recently, people have been performing under her expectations, and it was starting to annoy her. "I really hope that the two of you start to pick up the pace from here."

While Himihime was feeling disappointed, Shikamaru was becoming a little impressed. This young girl of about twelve-years-old was easily fighting on a level way beyond a Konoha Chuunin. For someone of her age to be able to perform the number of jutsu that she had in succession was no easy feet, and she came out of hit as if she hadn't even started to fight yet. Also, she had rapidly been able to switch between fuuton and suiton at an impressive rate. Her skills could easily put many of Konoha's Jounin to shame. However this is where their counterattack starts. Shikamaru pulled out a small detonator from his pouch.

The, all of a sudden, Shikamaru felt a large tremor coming from under the lake. A distance off, down the lake, a number of large pillars made of earth from under the water began to rise up from the surface of the lake. They rose in just about every direction, but they were still coordinated. They seemed to form into the shape of a ring.

"It looks like senpai's showing off." Himihime said while looking back over her shoulder, her sword now resting on her right shoulder. She then turned back to Shikamaru. "So, are you finally going to detonate those bombs you and your team have been dropping all over the place?"

"What?"

"You think I couldn't notice. Don't take me for some kind of fool; any novice shinobi could have seen you dropping bombs into the lake. I knew you weren't trying very hard with our little scuffle. I've already been informed of your team's abilities before hand. I know what you're capable of, and this isn't it. It was easy to see that you were concentrated on something else."

"I really have to admit, I am impressed. Yes, I and my team have been planting objects under the water, but they aren't bombs." Shikamaru activated the detonator. Eighteen kunai shot out from the lake. Their grips were wrapped in a cloth. The cloths unraveled and opened up. They were attached to the kunai by string.

"Parachute kunai?" Himihime was legitimately confused.

"You'll see." Shikamaru knelt down and formed a hand sign.

"_Kagemane no Jutsu!"_ Shikamaru's shadow shot out forward, but not toward Himihime. Shikamaru's shadow connected with one of the shadows created by the kunai. The shadow continued to stretch until all eighteen shadows created by the kunai were connected. The shape resembled a hexagonal spider web. "This is my Kage no Amimono."

"Oh, it seems I can't make a move." Himihime wasn't kidding. She couldn't move her body in any direction without coming into contact with Shikamaru's jutsu. "Well this sucks."

"_Shintenshin no Jutsu!"_ Ino had activated her clan's signature jutsu. With Himihime know immobile, the jutsu shouldn't have a problem connecting. But, just as her chakra was going to enter Himihime's psych, the jutsu took a sharp turn as it was absorbed into Himihime's blade.

"What the…" Shikamaru's shock was beyond description.

"Oh no, that just won't do." Himihime said.

"What…did you do?"

"Hm? Me? I didn't do anything." Himihime answered, honestly. "The sword did that on its own accord."

"You talk as though the sword is alive."

"Mmm, that's not a secret I wish to reveal quite yet."

"That's not surprising. You've been able to keep your mouth tightly shut this whole time."

"Really? Well then, if you want to know more about me that badly, then I guess I can tell you something." Himihime said with a taunting smile. "I have a kekkei genkai."

"Well that's a nice little tidbit of info."

"It's inconsequential to me. You'll lose whether I told you that or not. Now, would you like to see it?"

While this was all going on, Choji was slowly regaining his strength. With Himihime preoccupied, he saw his chance. _"Baika no jutsu!"_ Choji's right arm expanded and shot toward Himihime. His fist connected, but not with Himihime. A mirror mad out of ice had appeared next to Himihime, which blocked Choji's attack.

"_Makyou Hyoushou!"_ Twelve mirrors formed themselves around Shikamaru. Eight formed at an angle above the first twelve. Then, a final mirror formed at the center where the eight met. Himihime slide into the mirror that she used to block Choji's fist. That mirror disappeared as Himihime's reflection began to show among all of the twenty-one mirrors that had formed around Shikamaru.

"This is my kekkei genkai. Like Hashirama of the Senju clan, who combined doton and suiton to create mokuton, I combine fuuton and suiton to create hyouton." Himihime explained proudly, but then her attitude changed to one a little more humble. "Although, this particular jutsu isn't an original one of mine. My senpai was fortunate enough to have encountered someone with the same kekkei genkai who used this technique." Personally, this jutsu is one of her favorites because it was the first jutsu that Naruto had taught her which used her kekkei genkai. "Actually, you should consider yourself lucky that I used this jutsu."

"Why?" Shikamaru didn't fell very lucky at the moment.

"Well, because if I had used one of my own jutsu…" A sadistic smile came across Himihime's face. "…you'd be dead." Then, as soon as Himihime finished her sentence, Shikamaru felt himself being torn apart by a ton of sword cuts. "Unfortunetly, killing you three goes against my orders. So I avoided any vital spots. Although, the degree of damage I could inflict wasn't specified. So, how about it? Want another round?"

Shikamaru was in serious trouble and he knew it. From that split second of an attack, Shikamaru had already analyzed the technique. The girl used the mirrors as a transportation device to enable her to move from mirror to mirror at inhuman speed. Also, after seeing Choji's attack blocked, the mirror themselves were not so easily broken. Shikamaru didn't see much of a way out of the situation. He had no real way of countering her attack because he lacked the necessary physical ability to keep up with her. He would normally try to see if a few paper bombs would be enough to destroy at least one of the mirrors, but he currently did not have any on him. The only thing he could think of is to exploit the jutsu's only weakness. This kind of jutsu obviously required a large amount of chakra to use, and the user must continuously export chakra to keep the jutsu going. If he could just out last her, then he might have a chance.

"All right, ready or not." Himihime warned. She jumped from mirror to mirror, nicking Shikamaru here and there. She was only really messing with him at the moment. The cuts weren't very deep. "Come on, don't just stand there and take it. It's no fun if you make it this easy for me."

Himihime prepared her self to make another attack, but Shikamaru was ready. If he could time it just right, he might be able to land a hit. At such speeds, the opponent can't react very well, but neither can the user. Like with the Chidori, this jutsu requires straight, head-on assaults. If the receiver of the jutsu could endeavor long enough, that person could adapt their body to the speed in order to counter. While traveling at such speed, the user will have trouble avoiding the counter. Shikamaru was ready to try it.

Just like the first two times, Himihime came at Shikamaru head-on. When Shikamaru felt the attack, he looked down toward the cut. The blood coming from the wound was pointed at the mirror behind him, toward his upper left. Shikamaru reacted on instinct and through a kunai at the mirror. If Shikamaru's timing was right, the kunai should reach the girl when she is just about to leave that mirror. However, it didn't work. When the girl left the mirror, she had toward the next one, she shot straight toward the ground and cut deep into Shikamaru's left breast. Himihime then used Shikamaru's temporary shock to quickly get to the safety of one of her mirrors.

"That was close, but not quite close enough." Himihime was still only toying with him. "There was another minor detail about my kekkei genkai that I had forgotten to mention, and that is my eyes. Now, my eyes can't see chakra like the Byakugan or the Sharingan, but they do have strong physical perceptive abilities. The Sharingan uses chakra sight to be able to predict their opponent's movements. My eyes work differently. To me, the world around me simply slows down. It moves at such a rate that I can see an attack coming and have the necessary amount of time to react to said attack. So any counter you may want to try against me won't work." Himihime paused to give Shikamaru some time to think. "Also, don't think you will be able to out last me. With my current chakra level I can keep this jutsu up for at least thirty minutes." Himihime felt a little proud when the look of shock came across Shikamaru's face. "You see? You are in a completely hopeless situation. You have no way out, and now, it's high time we…"

Himihime stopped and looked as though she was in deep thought. Her reflection showed her sheathing her sword. "It seems those stooges have finally gotten away from here."

"Stooges?"

"Yeah, the three that I was ordered to rescue." Himihime said with a small hint of irritation in her voice. "Actually, I believe my senpai used to call your group that way back when."

"What? The only person who called us that was…" Shikamaru stopped as the realization finally hit him.

"Yep. Oh, and just for the record, my name is Himihime. You don't have to give yours; I already know who you are." The mirrors began to slowly disintegrate. "Actually, before I leave, I should probably release Ino shouldn't I?" With that, Himihime formed a hand sign and a stream of chakra shot from the sword and connected with Ino's unconscious body. The last of the mirrors disappeared, leaving Shikamaru alone with an injured Choji and an unconscious Ino.

During the fight, Suigetsu had managed to regain consciousness. He stretched as if he just got up from a long nap. "Aw man, how long have been out?"

"To long, idiot." A certain red-head, sitting next to his left, spat at him.

"I'm not an idiot."

"Yes you are. What kind of shinobi recklessly charges an opponent like that without some kind of plan? You deserved to be blown up." Karin retorted angrily. "In this situation, we really could have used your help."

"Well, sorry." Suigetsu said sarcastically. He looked over to where Himihime was fighting the Konoha shinobi. "Shouldn't we help out?"

"No." Karin replied. "I've been watching her fight. Trust me when I say that she definitely does not need our help."

"Aw man, is she really that good?" Suigetsu looked toward his right and saw the unconscious and wounded Juugo. "Whoa, looks like he definitely got his ass handed to him." Suigetsu expected some kind of reaction from Karin, but she was strangely silent. "Hey Karin…" Suigetsu turned back toward his left to talk to Karin, but she was gone. "Uh, Karin, where'd you go?" Suigetsu said while looking back and forth. Well, he might as well wake up Juugo. He turned back to his right, but Juugo had also vanished.

"Ahhhhh! What the hell man! Did you guys just leave me behind, assholes! Where the hell did you go?" Suigetsu started ranting to himself. Just then, his body began to feel strange, like he just lost what connected his mind to his body. He tried to look around to see if someone was using a jutsu on him, but his vision had started to become blurred. A white rim had formed around his line of vision, and it started to grow until his entire being was swallowed by the white light.


	8. Team 7 Reunited

"Well now, were you prepared for this?" The hooded figure stopped Sakura's attack right before it could connect with Sasuke. Sakura swung her blade, aiming for the newcomers head. The figure caught the sword with his free hand. Sakura was then sent flying back from a kick to the gut from the figure. "It looks like you weren't."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Whoa, calm down a little." The figure said, putting his hands up as if he was just caught by the police. "You'll find that out soon enough. Try not to be so hasty." He looked back to see a battered up Sasuke. "Man, she really let you have it."

"Shut up."

"I mean, come on, she countered just about everything you through at her. And the genjutsu thing, I didn't even see that coming. She practically made you her bitch."

Sasuke swung his sword at him as retaliation to his taunts. The figure avoided the attack easily, as he merely side-stepped backwards.

"Sheesh, can't take a joke." The figure turned back around to face Sakura. He held his arm up like he was waving goodbye. "You can just stay there and relax, Sasuke. I'll take it from here." Then, Sasuke and Sakura both lost track of the crimson figure, as he had disappeared from view.

"Don't let your guard down, Sakura." The man had appeared behind Sakura, showing his back to her own. He twirled a kunai in his right hand, grabbed it using the forward hammer grip, and swung his arm back, aiming for Sakura's head. Sakura was holding her sword in her left hand, and quickly brought up the blade to block the kunai. The two pieces of metal deflected off each other, and their wielders created some distance between themselves. The shinobi in the crimson coat switched to a reverse grip and charged his opponent. He swung a few good slashes at Sakura, who nearly dodged them, before she leaped into the air. She grabbed the hilt of her sword with both hands and brought it down as hard as she could. The man simply side-stepped the attack and cut Sakura along the left side of her body.

"You're kind of slow. Did you know that?" The man taunted, still standing in front of her.

"Screw you!" Sakura slowly got up and prepared her sword to strike at the man's neck. She charged her blade with ration mid-swing, so that it couldn't be deflected. However, the man caught Sakura's blade with his free hand. Sakura gave herself no time to ponder how he did it. She used this as leverage to be able to land a kick to the side of the man's head. The kick sent him flying a few feet.

"Ow. That really hurt." The shinobi said as he slowly got up, rubbing his head where Sakura's foot had hit its mark. Unfortunetly, for him, Sakura did not let up her attack. She charged him and let loose a fury of sword strikes. However, what the man said was true. Sakura's weapon of choice is powerful and heavy, but fundamentally slow. It was no effort on the man's part to evade ever single strike aimed at him. Sakura then tried a head-on stab at the man's upper body. The attack failed as the shinobi jumped and landed on Sakura's blade.

"Oh, so sorry. Pay another two hundred ryo to keep playing?" The crimson shinobi taunted. Sakura instantly pulled her sword back as the shinobi back flipped off and landed a good distance away.

"_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!"_ A large ring of water started to spin in front of Sakura on its side. Then a high velocity and dense wave of chakra shot forward, concentrating on Sakura's opponent. The wave hit and was a direct hit. Unfortunetly, what it hit wasn't its target. As the water stopped, Sakura could see a large wall of earth had appeared between her and the shinobi.

"Doton: Doryouheki." The shinobi said, confirming that he had used the jutsu, which was no crumbling away. "Unfortunetly for you, a suiton user, I am fairly proficient in doton, which happens to have an advantage over suiton."

"Actually, you're the one at a disadvantage." Sakura said as she charged her right fist and blade with raiton. "Doton is pretty weak against raiton isn't it?" Sakura charged the hooded shinobi, only to repeat what has already happened twice now. The shinobi caught Sakura's fist with his free hand, the raiton had been canceled, and stopped her sword swing with his kunai.

"Didn't you notice the first two times?" The shinobi pulled Sakura towards him as used her as leverage to stomp both of his feet into her ribcage. Sakura fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. "If you use suiton, I'll counter with doton. If you use raiton, I'll counter with fuuton. Your movement is also slow and predictable. There are also many other things that could prove my point, but it would be in both our best interests that I don't reveal them as of now. What I'm trying to get into your head is that I am completely out of your league." Sakura retorted by swinging her sword up at her opponent in anger. The shinobi easily leaped out of way.

"Jeez, you're just too violent."

"You…"

"Hm, yes?"

"What is your relationship with Sasuke?" As soon as Sakura finished her sentence, she heavily regretted her choice of words. There was a weird, awkward silence as a result.

"Your comment could be implied in multiple ways, particularly in ways I don't want to mention. So, please, be more specific." The hooded shinobi said this in a kind of mumbled and trembling tone, like he was in disgust. He practically begged the last sentence.

"That wasn't what I meant."

"Are you sure? Come on now, don't lie. That kind of thing turns you on, doesn't it?"

"It does not!"

"You need to be more honest with yourself."

"Shut up!" Sakura pulled her sword up with both hands. She shifted the handle a little to the left, so a second could fall from a hidden compartment. A click sound could be heard as Sakura pulled her sword apart into two separate blades. Her opponent was silent as he ogled the weapon.

"Wow! That was so cool! Can I have one?"

"No!...Ugh…You're an unbelievable pain in the ass, you know that."

"I do."

"You're just fucking with me, aren't you?"

"I am."

Sakura glared at him. "Anyway, what I tried to ask before was why you bothered to save Sasuke. What exactly are your motives?"

"Okay, that's much better. Well, I'm not free to give away that information…directly."

"Does that mean you're willing to give me that information indirectly?"

The shinobi smirked, although Sakura could not see this as his face was very well hidden under his hood. Sakura could feel the aura around her opponent shift. It became vile, demonic, and overwhelming. "I wonder…"

"What?"

The shinobi chuckled under his breath. "I wonder how you would react…if I told you that Sasuke killed Orochimaru under my orders." The shinobi then hurled his kunai, along with a few more at his pink-haired opponent. She deflected them with the blade in her left hand. She proceeded to charge her opponent, her arms crossed. She swung, crossing her swords together. The shinobi evaded, and Sakura persisted with her attack. Now that the weight of her weapon was evenly distributed, Sakura's attacks had become faster. Her opponent was beginning to have trouble evading her attacks. Eventually, Sakura was able to catch up to him and landed a hit. Her target then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Very good." Sakura turned as she heard her opponent clapping behind her. "Now you're trying."

"Shut up." Sakura glared at him, her anger boiling over.

"Oh, scary!"

"Shut up!" Sakura screamed. She tightened the grip on her swords, her arms began to tremble. "Before or after."

"Excuse me?"

"Was it before or after Sasuke left Konoha when you told him to kill Orochimaru?"

Sakura could tell that her opponent was smiling under his hood, knowing how she would react to his answer. "Heh, it was before."

"Bastard!" Sakura charged at him again, but he was ready. Sakura swung the blade in her left hand down, and the shinobi evaded. His back was now facing Sakura, and she got a good look at the insignia on his crimson coat. However, because the symbol distracted her, she didn't even see her opponent's elbow connect with her face.

"Come on now; don't let your guard down." The shinobi said. "Oh my god, that rhymed!"

"Shut up you asshole!" Sakura was upset; she had even begun to cry.

"O' man, I didn't mean to hit you that hard." He continued to taunt her.

"We thought you died."

"Huh?"

"We all thought you died that day!"

Her opponent began to laugh. "So, you finally caught on. I gotta know, what gave me away."

"Oh, lots of things, though not many are hardcore evidence. Your affinity for fuuton is one, and the Kage Bunshin is your favorite technique. We've also sparred many times when we were Genin, I started to recognize your fighting style. At first, I didn't want to accept it, thinking it could just be coincidence. However, that line of thought was broken completely once I finally got a good look of the symbol on your coat. It's an insignia for the Kyuubi isn't it, Naruto!"

"Well, you just hit the nail on the head, didn't you, Sakura?" Naruto said as he removed his hood. "So now you know it's me. I hope that…" Naruto was cut off by Sakura thrusting the sword in her left hand right through him. "Heh, no hesitation whatsoever, that's good, Sakura." Naruto then vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Damn it! Where'd you go?"

"_Doton: Joushou Tsuchidoudou!"_ Sakura heard a large rumbling under the lake, and the surface began to become uneasy. Then large pillars of earth began to rise up from the water. Sakura quickly got out of the way, but more just kept coming. Eventually, Sakura was boxed in by the jagged pillars. They all rose up at different angles, colliding with one another, but it still looked as if they were coordinated. A ring of them had formed, creating a wall, and trapping Sakura in. Even more jagged pillars rose up from the middle of the ring, until it became impossible to get a foot hold on the water's surface. These new pillars were not as tall as the first wave, so Sakura was still barred in. Sakura managed to get on top of a pillar near the middle and Naruto emerged from one close to hers.

"Now that I know you will hold no regrets, let's allow this make-shift stadium to be our battlefield."

Uchiha Sasuke had been watching the fight with intensity. He knew right away that Naruto was only toying Sakura, he wasn't taking her seriously at all. From his own fight with Sakura, he could tell that she had definitely kept up with her own training these past three years. Both he and Sakura held back on the other, Sasuke because he was arrogant and Sakura because she had an ace up her sleeve. However, even from that little scuffle, he knew that if he and Sakura had gone all out, they would have been very evenly matched. This scared him. It wasn't that Sakura could match up to him in battle, no; he could care less about that. The person that scared him was Naruto. Sasuke knew that Naruto had trained in these past three years just as he and Sakura had. And yet why was he so strong. Sakura was not holding back at all and Naruto was just playing around with her. Sasuke didn't want to accept it, but it was the truth. In the same amount of time Sasuke and Sakura had been training, Naruto had managed to surpass them both completely.

Actually, if Sasuke thought about it, why had he confronted Sakura in the first place? This was the place were he killed Orochimaru, so it was obvious that this would be the first place Konoha would investigate. Why would Naruto risk sending Taka here so soon? Could it be he was afraid of Konoha getting the info he wanted first. That was the most likely answer, and yet, something still didn't quite feel right. Sasuke's thoughts were than interrupted by the feel of a small hand touch his shoulder. He quickly looked back, Sharingan fully activated.

"You?" Was all he could get out as his entire being was engulfed in a white light.


	9. Naruto vs Sakura

Sakura and Naruto were now standing on opposite ends of Naruto's 'stadium'. The two of them had been exchanged blows. Naruto was easily able to land a good few; Sakura didn't have as much luck. Since Naruto had created his arena made from doton, Sakura and he had been mainly using taijutsu, Sakura using kenjutsu also. Actually, to speak more truthfully, Sakura has not found a way yet for her to use suiton and Naruto would just counter any raiton techniques, so she avoided ninjutsu so that she wouldn't squander any chakra. Naruto was only using taijutsu so he could counter Sakura. All he did was counter Sakura's attacks. He never initiated an attack on his own. He was only toying with her.

Sakura was contemplating how to gain the upper hand because at this point, Naruto had a complete advantage. Then it suddenly hit her. It was so obvious that Sakura would of face-palmed herself if she wasn't currently in the middle of a fight. The one thing Naruto could never really grasp was genjutsu. Although, Sakura has not been in any contact with Naruto after he left the village three years ago. She couldn't be entirely sure that his genjutsu abilities have improved. But in her current situation, it was the only thing she could do to try to give her the advantage.

Sakura charged her opponent and former teammate, raiton charged through her blades. She served a volley of swings at Naruto, and he dodged them all. For a brief moment, after her combo, Sakura was temporarily open. Naruto took this chance and threw a few kunai toward her. The kunai hit their mark as they hit Sakura's upper body. On the moment of impact, Sakura's body disappeared. What Naruto hit was a genjutsu clone. Naruto paused to look around. There was no sign of Sakura. Then, something caught his attention. A single pink petal floated down in front of him.

"A sakura petal?" Then before he knew it, Naruto was surrounded by hundreds of sakura petals. They were blowing in a vortex around, trying to trap him in. "Well, Sakura, I got to say that this genjutsu sure is pretty to look at, but…" Naruto pivoted around, landing a solid punch right in Sakura's abdomen. The force of the assault sent her flying right into the wall, causing a portion of the earth to break off.

"Nice try, Sakura. You guessed right in using genjutsu. Honestly, I still don't really have a knack for it. However, instead of improving my ability in genjutsu these past few years, I just focused gaining complete control over the Kyuubi. You see, if a Jinchuuriki was control over his or her Bijuu, then while the Jinchuuriki is hit with the genjutsu, their Bijuu can break it for them. That is exactly what I did just now."

While Naruto was informing her of how he broke her genjutsu, Sakura had lodged one of her blades into the wall in order to give her proper footing. The area was still very coarse with jagged spikes all around them, serving as the floor. Sakura began forming a complex series of hand signs. If genjutsu wouldn't work, she had a back up plan. The earth that was used for Naruto's jutsu was originally resting as the lakebed. It was filled with moisture. Using precise chakra control, Sakura believed she would able to use that moisture for an attack.

"_Suiton: Gyousan Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"_ Twelve streams of water shot out from the earth. They began to form into the shapes of dragons. One after the other, they struck at Naruto. Naruto evaded them all, however each dragon would only curve around as they missed and continued their assault. This dance continued until Naruto found himself in the air surrounded by twelve water dragons.

"_Suirou no Jutsu!"_ All twelve water dragons began to rapidly circle around Naruto. They closed up the distance between themselves until they formed a solid orb of rushing current. Since Sakura had exceptional chakra control, she could hold the jutsu just fine from a distance. She was going to hold it until Naruto called uncle, or drowned. This didn't work out as Sakura planned. She saw the look on Naruto's face and wasn't one of agony. He was smiling, and not the happy, goofy one Sakura was used to. It was more serious. He was looking around the orb of water, admiring it. That's what Sakura read from his expression. There was something else as well. She got the feeling that Naruto was about to do something. Naruto curled up as if he was about to guard from an attack. Then he exploded; his arms and legs stretched out as a thunderous, demonic roar came from his throat. The water prison broke apart as galleons of water shot out in every direction. Sakura lodged her other blade into the earth and grabbed on to both so that the force of the water would not carry her away. Naruto landed on another spike and then leaped off of it to land on the wall on the opposite side of Sakura.

"That was wonderful, Sakura. There is nothing less I would expect from you, but I hope that isn't the best you can do. If it is, then you won't be able to perform the role I've prepared for you very well."

Sakura was taken aback by this a little. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing that concerns you as of now. But don't fret; you'll know when you need to. Now, about our fighting area. It's a little tedious to try and constantly balance on those jagged spikes isn't it?"

"That's why I'm over here standing on my blade. Besides, this area was created from your jutsu in the first place." Sakura said. Sakura knew Naruto was being an idiot, but know she couldn't decide if it was on purpose or if he was a genuine moron.

"You're absolutely right. Now let me fix it."

"_Doton: Doriyuuheki!"_ Naruto rammed his palms on the ground and as he did a wall of earth shot out from his feet. Since Naruto was standing on a wall, his new wall shot across the area until it met the wall in the other side. There was now a circular and flat floor to support the two of them. The two of them stepped off their respective walls and prepared to continue the fight.

"That last jutsu of yours takes very careful chakra control and quite a considerable amount of chakra. You've never been well known for the volume of chakra you possessed. I hope that you haven't exhausted yourself yet, this wouldn't be very enjoyable if you have."

"You shouldn't look down on me so much. I've grown a lot stronger since you left. I have become a Jounin of Konoha so that I would have the strength to track down Sasuke and drag him back, and now I will use the strength I've gained to bring you back as well."

"Oh, trust me, I already know about all that." Naruto scoffed off her comment.

"What?"

"Well let's see here. Like me, you achieved the rank of Chuunin on your first attempt. Then after about a year and completing a considerable amount of missions with amazing efficiency you became a Jounin. You have also gained enough strength and jutsu to be able to rival Kakashi-sensei. Actually, I would think that the two of you might be equals at this point."

Sakura was dumbfounded. "Have you been spying on me?"

"Of course not. I have others to do that for me."

"Bastard!" Sakura charged him again, only to have her attack fail. She tried to stab him with the blade in her right hand, but Naruto pivoted so that his right side was facing her. Naruto then hit Sakura across the face with the side of his fist, knocking her to the ground.

"You shouldn't flaunt your power around so much. Spouting out nonsense like rank and the like, even going as far as to say that you have the abilities to overcome me." Naruto was now looming over Sakura, a cold and arrogant smile ran across his face. "I will tell you this now, Sakura; things like rank mean absolutely nothing to me. No matter what your rank is, no matter how powerful you claim to be, you will always be below me. There is no one within Konoha who possesses the strength to oppose me, not even the Hokage. If you wish to continue, then I will show you how great the difference is between us."

Sakura took another desperate swing toward Naruto. He leaped backward and created a fair amount of distance between them.

"I guess, there is no point in trying to convince you to back down, is there, Sakura?"

"Of course there isn't! I'm going to defeat you right here and now, then I'll drag both you and Sasuke back!"

Naruto chuckled to himself. "Again with such meaningless boasting." Naruto sighed heavily. "All right, if you wish to continue fighting then I have no choice but to comply. I hope you're ready, Sakura, because I will not hold back."

Naruto clapped his hands together, and then slowly began to pull them apart. As he did this, a thin vortex of wind began to spin vertically within the space between his hands. Naruto then ripped the vortex in two. Naruto's arms were now stretched out with a vortex centered at both his palms. As the vortexes began to slow down, Sakura noticed there was a physical form to them. There were four small blades focused on each of Naruto's palms. There was nothing keeping them together, nor was Naruto holding on to them. The blades were simply floating only a few inches from his palms. The blades themselves were sharp all around them, there were no blunt sides. They were round and wide at the center. As they moved up toward their point, the blades curved. The shape that the four blades formed together at each of Naruto's hands reminded Sakura of shuriken.

"You look a little surprised, Sakura." Naruto said as he lowered his arms, the blades staying centered at his palms. "To answer the question that most likely came to your mind first, yes they are shuriken. Although, there is obviously nothing holding them together, well nothing that you can see anyway. It is my own chakra that allows these eight blades to form into two large shuriken and to keep them centered at my hands." Naruto raised up his hands so Sakura could see his palms. On both of them had the kanji for steel written. "Seeing as you have no sheath for your sword, I assume you use a scroll that has a similar seal on it to hold your weapon. Well I happen to find it much more convenient to have the seal on my hands so that I can bring them out at any time without delay."

"Well, I have to say that they are very impressive, but I wouldn't exactly call them shuriken. I mean, the way that they are formed, there is just no way you would be able to throw…" Sakura was interrupted as Naruto did just that, he threw the shuriken in his right. Sakura deflected it, believing that it the four blades would become separate and fall. However, when the shuriken bounced back off of Sakura's blade it spun right back at Naruto and he caught it.

"I told you Sakura, it is my chakra that holds these weapons together. The blades are filled with my chakra and they know exactly who their master is." Naruto bragged

Sakura gritted her teeth. She slammed both her blades into the ground. Visible ration began to charge throughout her body. Sakura leaned back and then shot her right arm forward, pointing at Naruto with her index and middle fingers

"_Chidori Dangan!"_ A large pulse of ration shot out from Sakura's fingers, like a bullet shot from the barrel of a gun. Naruto put his left arm up to defend against the attack. The blades began to spin rapidly and began to grow farther apart as they spin faster. They kept increasing their distance between each other until their circumference completely surrounded Naruto. Then a large circular wall of chakra formed in the gap created by the blades. Sakura's jutsu collided with Naruto's chakra shield and was immediately halted. After the jutsu was successfully blocked, the blades reverted back to the shape of a shuriken.

"A neat trick wouldn't you agree?" Naruto said with a smirk.

Sakura didn't answer him as she ripped her blades from the ground and charged him. The two of them began a dance of metal. Sounds of steel clashing against one another began to fill the area. They both swung fast and deflected with amazing reflexes. Neither combatant let their guard down for an instant. Sakura didn't bother with charging her blades with ration as it would be a waste of chakra since Naruto would just counter by flowing fuuton through his shuriken. Eventually, Sakura was able to get through Naruto's guard just briefly. She tried to hit him with an upward kick to the chin, but Naruto back flipped up onto the wall of the arena. At this point Sakura could not contain her anger anymore.

"What the hell happened to you? I don't understand any of this! You've left behind everything, and everyone, and for what? For power?"

Naruto just smiled and shook his head. "No, Sakura. I motives are not as simple. In the current situation, you could not possible comprehend my intentions."

"That still doesn't explain why you left! You finally had been able to gain the respect and love from the village that you worked so hard for. I can't understand why you threw that all away."

"Sakura, I don't expect you to understand. Honestly, I could care less about how you or the rest of the village views me. It won't really affect my plans in any way. Now, let's stop this unnecessary talk and continue." Naruto was instantly in front of Sakura, not giving her enough time to put up her guard.

"_Rasengan!"_ Naruto initiated one of his signature moves. The blades attached to his right hand spun and opened up a small distance between them as the orb of rotating chakra formed in Naruto's palm. His jutsu collided with Sakura. However, just as Naruto's jutsu hit its target, Sakura's body began to blur. Chirping sounds began to come from the dissipating body as it turned into a large mass of ration. Naruto's muscles contracted as ration steamed throughout his body. The real Sakura came from above him, ready to strike, and Naruto couldn't move as he was paralyzed in place. Sakura cut him down in an x-shaped slash. Naruto's body was cut into four different pieces, but those four pieces immediately turned into dirt even before they hit the ground. A good distance away, Sakura could see the real Naruto slowly break through the floor and crawl out of the ground. When his entire body was out of the ground Naruto immediately summoned his shuriken as he resealed them when he hid in the floor.

"A ration bunshin, that's a pretty advanced jutsu, Sakura. I most likely right when I assume Kakashi-sensei taught you that one. I told you that you shouldn't flaunt your strength around, but I truly believe you are now one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha. You're strong, Sakura, and you're only going to get stronger from here. I really wish that I could test you even further, but I believe that what I've seen today is enough. It is about time I finished this."

Naruto rose up his left hand, and the shuriken attached to it, almost like he was showing it off. "I'm sure you noticed that on a couple of occasions how these would begin to spin and separate, at least I hope you did. You wouldn't be a very good shinobi if you didn't take note of it. Anyway, as I said before, these blades are held together by my chakra. So by simply manipulating the chakra used to hold them together I can make spin and separate as I please. And if I pour more chakra into them, then I can increase their velocity and distance at will. However, I only do this using my own chakra. If I did it with the Kyuubi's, it would be a simple thing to lose control. I have already measured the maximum speed and distance I can create with these blades with my own chakra. The maximum distance I can reach is one hundred meters and…"

Naruto instantly stretched out his left arm so the attack wouldn't hit him. As soon as he did this, Sakura felt a sting going up her upper body. She looked down and found a large gash going up from her left side to her right shoulder. The blades had moved so fast that Sakura's body did not react fast enough to even feel the pain. Then it did hit her, all at once, and Sakura collapsed to her knees, blood gushing out of her wound. Then half the stadium of earth fell apart as the blades had cut right through them. Sakura could now see outside and the view allowed her to see the coast of the lake. Sasuke was already gone.

"The maximum speed is one hundred and fifty meters per second." Naruto gloated, seeing Sakura on her knees staring at the ground. Then he noticed a green aura was covering her wound, which had already stopped bleeding. Sakura's precise chakra control was nothing less than amazing. To be able to heal a wound like that in her condition, most medical-nin weren't even capable of that. Sakura slowly rose from the ground, using the blade in her left hand as leverage.

"You told me that your motives weren't simple, I would have to trust you on that." Sakura as she met Naruto's arrogant eyes.

"Yes, what of it."

"I can't disagree in that aspect, and can't even guess what you are planning. However, I can give a pretty good guess as to why you left Konoha in the first place, even if it isn't the only reason, which I'm sure it isn't."

Naruto's attitude changed drastically to one of anger and pain. "Don't you…"

"You weren't the only one who didn't come back from the Sasuke Retrieval mission, right?" Sakura continued, not letting Naruto get a sentence in. "Do you feel like it was your fault? Do you feel guilt?"

"Sakura, you shouldn't talk of things you don't understand, you'll be crossing the line soon."

"I wonder what that person would think seeing you know. Would that person feel disappointed? I wonder if that person would even go as far as to hate you."

"Sakura, I won't tell you again, you shouldn't talk of things you don't understand!" Naruto had now become completely infuriated.

"And you shouldn't allow yourself to become so flustered!" Sakura threw the blade in her right hand. The next thing Naruto knew, he was pinned against the wall. The blade had gone right through him and nailed him to the wall. Naruto looked down at the blade in shock, but that was over quickly. A smile crept along his face and he began to laugh. As he did this, Sakura noticed that Naruto's body had slowly begun to crumble away as it was only a doton bunshin. Naruto calmed down and had begun to talk.

"Well done, very well done. Your power is nothing less than my expectations, but they aren't above them either. However, that isn't a problem at the moment. I really hope you continue to grow. Don't disappoint." And with that, the doton bunshin disappeared.

"Damn it." Sakura then ran out of chakra and fainted from exhaustion.

Juugo awoke with a major headache. The last thing he remembered was that blonde kunoichi using that astral projection thing on him. He noticed that he was on land and was resting against a tree, and he had no idea how he got there. He looked over and saw that Suigetsu and Karin were talking about something, he couldn't quite hear. Karin stopped as she noticed Juugo was awake, and Suigetsu looked back to see.

"Well if it isn't Sleeping Beauty." Suigetsu teased.

"What happened? How'd we get here?"

"How the hell should we know? Some little girl just did some hocus pocus and then we were here. I don't even know were here is." Suigetsu answered him.

"Little girl?"

"You'll see her soon. She said she went to get Sasuke." Karin answered Juugo this time. Then Sasuke instantly appeared next to them, along with the girl that Suigetsu and Karin mentioned. The girl looked between twelve and thirteen years of age. She had dark blue hair cut hime-style and lavender eyes. She wore a pink kimono with a violet and white floral design along the bottom. On her feet were shinobi socks and straw sandals.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked addressing the girl.

"Well, Naruto-kun told me to get you for out if you ran into trouble."

"You know that isn't what I meant. You shouldn't even be here period."

The three other members of Taka were confused as to what Sasuke was talking about and a little surprised with how spoke with such familiarity with the girl.

"Sasuke, who is this girl?" Karin asked.

Sasuke glanced over at Karin. He then let out a sigh as his eye drifted to the bottom left, signalizing that he was remembering a past event.

"Her name is Hyuuga Hinata, and she died three years ago."


	10. Naruto's Crew

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto. Mainly because I don't think I could of made Kushina as awesome as she was.

* * *

Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo both starred in wonder and confusion at what Sasuke and just told them. A girl, who they could clearly see, was in fact dead, or supposed to be anyway. All members of Taka watched as Hinata walked over to the nearest tree and sat down, leaning against it.

"Sasuke, are you sure that the girl is dead?" Juugo asked. "I mean, she looks pretty alive to me."

"Well, that's what I was told." Sasuke answered, but he was not facing Juugo when he said this. He glared at the girl sitting against a tree, as if expecting her to explain some kind of wrong doing.

"Don't be so angry Sasuke." Hinata returned Sasuke's glare with a smile. "I cannot be any more dead then I am right now."

"Then how are you here, right now in front of us?"

"Is she a ghost?" Suigetsu was the one to speak up this time.

"No, I am not." Hinata said, and began to correct Suigetsu. "A ghost is spirit who has failed to pass on because they have regrets about this world. I have no regrets and I successfully passed on when I died."

"I don't think you're dead at all." Karin said, fixing her glasses. "To think that someone who was able to physically bring us here and out of danger is dead is completely irrational."

Hinata only smiled back, ignoring her ignorance. "It doesn't matter if you don't believe me now, but in time you will."

Before Sasuke could get in another question, the one person he wanted to talk to the most had just arrived. Within a gust of wind, both Naruto and his disciple, Himihime, shunshined in front of Taka.

"Hello, everybody." Naruto said cheerfully. Taka did not return the gesture. However, Hinata was more than happy to welcome him. "Well, at least someone's glad to see me."

"Naruto…" Sasuke rose up so he could meet Naruto at eye level. "Maybe you could explain what the hell is going on. I'd like to know how Hinata is alive; she only seems to know how to beat around the bush."

Naruto briefly looked confused and turned to Hinata. "Did you tell them you were alive?"

"No. I've been telling them I'm dead, but they won't believe." Hinata said, defending herself. "I told you they wouldn't to begin with."

"Neither of you has yet to answer my question." Sasuke said, now beginning to feel irritated.

"And I'm not going to answer it." Naruto answered blatantly. "Not now anyway. There many secrets in this world, Sasuke. In time you will begin to understand the things that I have discovered, but now is not that time. You are not mentally prepared yet."

"And I'd say that you just want to keep us in the dark." Karin said, quickly rising up to stand. "I think that you just want to use us for your dirty work."

"I agree with Karin." Sasuke said. "You've been keeping things from us. Firstly, there is the issue with Hinata. There is also the issue on how you knew Konoha was going to be at the hideout."

Naruto just smiled at him as a response. "Well, well. When did you catch on?"

"I wasn't sure until you just confirmed it. I just found it a little suspicious that you immediately sent us out only to have a run in with Konoha shinobi, one of them being Sakura. Also…" Sasuke pulled out the three carrier scrolls and tossed them into the air. With a rapid motion, Sasuke cut the scrolls into six pieces. "If you really wanted whatever Orochimaru was hiding there, you would have stopped me from doing that."

"I cannot deny it. I was never interested in what that senile old fool had gathered. There was nothing he knew that I didn't already know. I was also fully aware that Konoha was going to investigate the place where Orochimaru was murdered. However, who they would send was beyond my knowledge. The fact that Sakura was one of them was just a happy coincidence." Naruto was interrupted as a blade of lightening shot right past the right side of his head and hit a tree a distance back.

"You set us up!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"I needed to test your mettle. Honestly, I was hoping you could handle it. I had myself and Himihime keep watch as a precaution only." Naruto paused as he gave a sigh. "Anyway, even though you lot failed, I still have a promise that I need to keep."

"Oh yeah." Sasuke said as he remembered their conversation at the bridge. Sasuke undid his jutsu and began to relax. "You said you'd help me with the first step on getting to Itachi. So, where can I find him?"

"I'm not telling."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you're not strong enough."

"Not strong enough my ass!" Sasuke drew his sword and aimed right down the center of Naruto's body. Naruto sidestepped the attack. He grabbed Sasuke's wrist with his right hand, while his open left hand covered over Sasuke's face. Naruto then proceeded to push Sasuke, sending him flying into a tree. Sasuke's back collided with the tree and landed on his bottom as he fell.

"You are not ready to face Itachi." Naruto continued. "I can help you reach the point where you can, but you're going to have to trust me. Now, if you wish to continue with that assault of yours, then I'll only have you re-experience our little bout at the Valley of the End, and we both know how that turned out."

Naruto smiled as he watched Sasuke scowl at him from the ground. "Anyway, what I meant by the first step wasn't letting you just waltz your way on to Itachi." Sasuke then noticed Naruto had briefly glanced at his neck. "Sasuke, you named your team Taka, because I'm guessing that you wish to move on from Orochimaru. However, as long as you have that curse mark, you will never be rid of him. So, why don't we go get that thing removed?"

"You can do that?"

"Oh no, not me. We're actually waiting for the person who can."

During the entire conversation, Himihime had kept quite. Her senpai had everything under control. She feel like she didn't need to interrupt. However, a strange sensation came over her. A sudden chill crawled up her spine.

"Senpai!" Naruto turned toward his disciple's call. "My fangirl senses…they're tingling!"

"Oh, then she's almost here then." Naruto paused for a second before he started to count down. "Three…two…one…" After the counting was done, Naruto bowed his entire upper body so that made a right angle. As he did, a sudden green blur flew right over him. The blur hit the ground and began to roll, slamming into the tree next to Sasuke. Sasuke looked over and saw the blur had been a person. This new arrival wore a coat similar to Naruto's but it was green and it had a different insignia on the back. The insignia on this person's coat had the kanji for Kabutomushi in the center as seven tails grew from the character and swirled around it.

The new comer's hood fell down as she rubbed her forehead from where she hit the tree. The girl had tanned skin and had short green hair to match her coat. She had bright red eyes and no pupils that Sasuke could see. Her figure was unimpressive and flat. Sasuke had trouble seeing her as a girl at first. Then, as soon as Sasuke had gotten a good look at her, the girl was gone.

"Naruto-kun!" The girl once again lunged herself at Naruto. This time she succeeded in connecting with her target, wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck. Her face was only centimeters away from Naruto's as she pouted at him. "Why did you dodge? I really hurt myself you know."

"It's because you're too clingy." Naruto bluntly answered, as if the reason should be obvious.

"Now get off him you insect! Can't you see that senpai is feeling uncomfortable?"

"Oh, you're here." The girl responded to Himihime's outburst. A hint of distaste could be heard in her tone. She then proceeded to hug Naruto tighter, but her arms just met air. Naruto had slipped out of the girl's grasp and was now on the opposite side of her.

"Sasuke, I'm sure you remember Fuu here."

Sasuke took another look at her, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Then he remembered. "Oh, we met her during our mission to Takigakure all those years ago."

"I'm glad I'm so memorable." Fuu said in a sarcastic tone.

Sasuke ignored her and went right back to talking with Naruto. "I'm assuming she was the one you were referring to."

"Yep. Besides being the Jinchuuriki for the Nanabi no Kabutomushi, Fuu is also an established expert in Fuuinjutsu and Juinjutsu."

Fuu beamed when Naruto described her. "So that means that I'm gonna be the one to get rid of that thing on your neck." Fuu pointed to the curse mark.

"Although, it would be better if we didn't do it here." Naruto said. "We should go somewhere a little more secluded."

"Do you have somewhere in mind." Sasuke asked.

"I do." Naruto turned to Hinata. "Would you do the honors?"

"Of course."

Once again, Taka began to feel a sudden fading sensation. The scene around them began to become distorted and warped until all sense of direction and perspective was lost. It felt like they were caught in a strong current. A current of what they couldn't tell. Then, as soon as the world had disappeared before they're very eyes, it began to re-focus. Their setting had changed. They were all now in a large throne room. It was mostly empty, except toward the north wall there were a few steps that lead to a large throne. Behind the throne, painted on the wall, was the kanji for kitsune and it was surrounded by eight swirls.

While Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo were trying to figure out how Hinata had gotten them there, Sasuke was trying to figure out why they were here. He recognized the place immediately. "This is an Uchiha hideout."

"An abandoned Uchiha hideout." Naruto corrected him. "Well, since we're using it, it isn't really abandoned anymore."

"You had no right in claiming this place." Sasuke spat at him.

"Well I say had every God damn right to. It was abandoned wasn't it? Besides, I happen to find it very convenient." Naruto then pointed to the north wall that was behind him. "Also, it has my mark on it doesn't it?"

"Look again, dobe. The insignia reads kitsune, not Youko. It also has eight tails, not nine."

Naruto turned to look at the wall. "Yeah, I always noticed that. I just assumed they made some kind of mistake, but what do I know?" Naruto simply shrugged it off.

Sasuke was going to retort, but he stopped has he heard footsteps coming from the only hallway that lead into the throne room from the south wall. Everyone else also noticed that they were about to have a visitor and turned their attention to the hallway.

"I thought I heard some noise coming from here." A girl of about sixteen had walked into the throne room. She had long brown hair and eyes to match. She wore a red sleeveless shirt and long tan pants. She had what most people would describe as having average looks. However, she did have a decent figure. "I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"Well, I'd like to say that we are happily ahead of schedule." Naruto answered her.

"Tamaki?"

Tamaki turned to who spoke up, and she met Sasuke's gaze. "Sasuke? Is that you?"

Karin, who didn't like the sudden change in atmosphere, began to speak up. "And I would like to know who…"

She never got to finish as Fuu appeared behind her, clasping her hand over her mouth. She then whispered into her ear. "It'd be rude to interrupt."

As Karin tried to struggle away from Fuu, Tamaki had begun to walk up to Sasuke. She now stood a couple inches away from him. She brought her hand up to her forehead and began to measure. "Damn, you're taller than me now."

"Yeah, I'm not that short little crybaby I once was."

"You may have gotten taller, but you'll always be an emotional baby to me."

"I haven't cried in years."

"Yeah, and now all you got is some short temper."

Suigetsu was the next one to speak. "So, Sasuke, who is this?"

Sasuke turned to his comrade. "She's an old friend of mine. Her and her grandmother runs a store that my clan would use for provisions."

Next thing Sasuke knew, Suigetsu was now leaning against his shoulder. "So I guess you two are pretty close, huh?"

"No, we haven't seen each other in years."

"Yeah." Tamaki was speaking now. "We haven't spoken since…" She stopped herself realizing what the conversation was leading to.

"Since before the Uchiha Massacre." Sasuke had finished the sentence for her.

"Oh." Suigetsu took his arm off of Sasuke's shoulder feeling a little awkward now. But Sasuke didn't notice. He was busy remembering his family's visits to Nekobaa's store. While his parents would be ordering supplies, Itachi would let him and Tamaki slip out so they could play. Most of it would just be Sasuke trying to show off the little shinobi skills he had back then.

"Well, I would hate to ruin such a joyful reunion…" Naruto had brought Sasuke back from his flashbacking. "…but we do have some business to take care of. First off, Sasuke and his group should go get themselves cleaned up. Also, Juugo is still wearing his prison uniform, so a change of clothes would be good." Naruto paused, as if waiting for something. "That means that you should go now, shoo."

"He's right, Sasuke." Tamaki said as she began to lead Taka out of the throne room. "Come on, grandma would be happy to see you." With that, Tamaki and Taka had left. The four remaining, who were Naruto, Himihime, Hinata, and Fuu, waiting until the five who left were completely out of earshot. Naruto turned to walk toward the throne. He sat on the large chair and made himself comfortable.

"This has been going a lot better than I thought. I never would have thought Sasuke would have been so cooperative." Naruto said as his right elbow was resting on the armrest, and his head gently leaning on to his fist. He turned his attention to Fuu. "As soon as they are ready, I want you to remove Sasuke's curse mark. Juugo's body contains enzymes that were used to create the jutsu, so you have them to work with."

"Really? Well, with that then it should be no problem getting rid of that curse." Fuu crossed her arms and began to pout. "I was hoping for more of a challenge with this."

Himihime gave her a stern look. "Don't be too cocky, insect. Some of Orochimaru's chakra is imbedded within the mark to, so you need to watch out for that."

"I know, I know. I wouldn't be as good as I am if I would overlook something like that."

Hinata had been standing there quietly, not really wanting to draw attention to herself. However, something had crossed her mind. "Um, Naruto-kun, Sakura learned about you, right?"

"Yeah, why."

"Well, when she gets back to Konoha, she is going to report what happened today. Are you sure that revealing yourself to Konoha so soon is wise."

"I understand your concern Hinata, but it doesn't really matter. For our plan to work, Konoha has to know. Although, revealing myself as only made them an active player. They have yet to learn their role in all of this."

When Naruto was finished, they were interrupted by a man who shunshined behind and to the left of Naruto. Naruto leaned forward in order for to see the newcomer. The man appeared to be in his early twenties. He wore plain brown and tan, tattered robes. His face was made invisible by the many bandages that were loosely wrapped around his head. He had dull black hair that slipped through the bandages and hung down to the middle of his back.

Naruto sighed when he saw the man. "If you're here then that means Kabuto has already begun to move." The man only nodded as confirmation.

"Kabuto, already? Should we inform the other Jinchuuriki about this?" Fuu asked.

"No, if I know Yagura, he's already caught wind of this of well." Naruto stopped as he felt a small sting in the back of his head. Fuu as well felt this sensation.

"Well speak of the devil." Naruto rose from the throne. He turned toward the bandaged man. "You can leave, just continue with the normal routine until I say so otherwise." The man responded with a nod and left in a shunshin.

"Himihime, Hinata, could me and Fuu have some privacy?"

"Of, course." Hinata responded, and she faded from the room. Himihime stayed silent as she left through the hallway. Naruto walked down the steps so he at the same level as Fuu. The two sat down in a meditative position. They close their eyes and concentrated. Once they felt the connection, they re-opened their eyes.

They were back in the cave, standing on their respective pillars. All the Jinchuuriki had their hoods down this time. Utakata was the first to break the silence. "Well, it looks like you failed in your objective, Naruto. Orochimaru is still alive."

"Hardly, I wouldn't call a portion of yourself infused with someone as being alive." Naruto countered.

"So you understand why I called for this meeting, Naruto?" Yagura asked curiously.

"Naturally. So, how much of Kabuto's body been infected by Orochimaru."

Yugito was the one to answer him. "It has already spread to over half of his being. At this rate, his whole body will be overflowing with his power in no time at all." She strengthened her stare toward Naruto. "I was hoping you knew what you were doing when you had the Uchiha brat finish him off, but it looks like I was wrong."

"Hold on Yugito-chan." Fuu began, trying to defend Naruto. "Just because Sasuke messed up, doesn't mean that you should blame Naruto."

"Fuu, it's all right." Naruto started to say, calming her down. "Sasuke is my responsibility, so his mistakes become my own."

"Speaking of Sasuke, you haven't been keeping that good of an eye on him. I heard that he has already come into contact with Konoha shinobi." Roshi was the next one to criticize how Naruto was handling the situation.

"Again, that was all me. I purposely sent him and his team out knowing full well that he would engage Konoha shinobi. I was simply trying to test him. However, I can assure you that this will not become a problem." Naruto spoke convincingly. Roshi was not satisfied, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Seeing that no one else was going to speak, Naruto continued.

"As for Kabuto, seeing that letting someone else handle the job instead didn't work, I will deal with him personally."

"In my opinion, that is something you should have done in the first place." Utakata said. So far Gaara, Han, and Bee had not spoken as they had too much respect for Naruto to criticize him.

"Very well, Naruto. We all hope that you produce better results this time." When Yagura finished speaking, he signaled the meeting over. One by one, each of the Jinchuuriki's images faded until the cave was once again dark and empty.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, a long over due update. I know, doesn't seem like much had happened after all those fights. I would of updated sooner, but I've been busy. Mainly with GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL! That's right people, I am now a high school graduate, despite my parents skepticism that I had passed English. Well, I showed them. Anyway, now begins the Kabuto Ark. Yep, Kabuto gets his own ark. It's just cause lots of shit will go down while he is the focused villain. Rate and Review.


	11. Lifting a Curse

**Disclaimer:** Me own Naruto not.

* * *

Tamaki was leading Taka down a small dim hallway. Sasuke was following to the left of Tamaki only a half a step behind her. The rest of Taka was behind by at least a couple steps. Sasuke wasn't really sure where Tamaki was leading them, but then again, he wasn't really paying attention either. Sasuke was too busy thinking of what had transpired that day back at Orochimaru's old hideout.

The entire time, Naruto seemed to know exactly what to do and exactly when to do it. There wasn't a time where the situation was beyond his control. Even when Sakura had learned who he was, Naruto wasn't fazed by it. Actually, Naruto wasn't really trying very hard to hide it. It looked like he was expecting it, no, more like counting on it. Just like how he had probably counted on Sasuke and his team to underestimate their Konoha opponents.

"Sasuke?" Tamaki had broken Sasuke's train of thought. "What were you brooding over?"

"Hm?"

"Well, you've kind of been staring rather intensely toward the ground for a while now."

"Oh. It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"I'm not the one worrying, Sasuke." Tamaki turned her head away from Sasuke and put her sights forward ahead. "You don't have to worry about Naruto, he won't betray you."

"You can read me like a book." Sasuke said with a smile appearing across his face. "I'm just having trouble completely believing in him. There is obviously so much more going on with Naruto, but he won't let me in on anything."

"Like I told you, don't worry so much. Trust me, it'll work out." Tamaki paused and looked back at Sasuke. "You still trust me, don't you?"

Sasuke was a little surprised by the question. "Of course, I trust you. We are childhood friends after all."

Tamaki sighed as a sign of her relief. "That's good. After the incident, you suddenly stopped coming…I got worried."

Sasuke quickened his pace so that he was right next to Tamaki. He gently nudged her with his elbow. "Now you are the one who shouldn't worry. I was doing just fine." Sasuke paused when he suddenly felt a sudden pain in his chest. He winced, for only a second, but that was enough for Tamaki to notice.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's nothing."

Meanwhile, the rest of Taka; Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo, were having a conversation of their own.

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Karin said, gritting her teeth. "Trying to get Sasuke all to herself."

"Look out people, Karin just went into rabid fangirl mode." Suigetsu said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"You shut up!" Karin snapped back.

"Come on, we're comrades. We shouldn't bicker like this, it could hurt our teamwork." Juugo said, trying to calm them down. Well, mainly just Karin.

Both Karin and Suigetsu turned back to Juugo and said in unison. "This coming from the guy who has sudden fits of killer intent."

"Well, um, no one's perfect." Juugo said trying to defend himself.

"Yeah, I know, and I bet that Tamaki girl isn't either." Karin continued her Tamaki bashing. "Even if she is an old friend of Sasuke's, it doesn't mean she hasn't changed since then. I mean, that Naruto person was also a friend of Sasuke's, and judging from his reaction so far, Naruto has had a major character change."

"What are exactly getting at here, Karin?" Juugo asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, there is no question that Naruto is hiding things from all of us. However, what do we know about this Tamaki person? It's been years since Sasuke has seen her. She just has to have some skeletons in her closet."

"And I just think you are being an overly suspicious fangirl." Suigetsu repeated.

"And I said shut up!" Karin whacked Suigetsu on his head, which just burst into a pool of water.

"I actually think Karin has some good points." Juugo put in. "We really don't know a thing about this girl. We can't be sure if she has some ulterior motive. This I can agree with, but…I also think Karin is being kind of a fangirl."

"Ugh." Karin hung her head to show her feeling of defeat.

"You know, we could hear everything you were saying." All three of them jumped when they realized that Sasuke and Tamaki were now right in front of them.

"Oh come on, there has got to be something behind this girl." Karin said to Sasuke as she pointed to Tamaki. However, neither Sasuke nor Tamaki had time to respond as all five heard a small high-pitched voice call out to them.

"Well, well. It's been a while since you two have been together hasn't it, Sasuke, Tamaki?" One of the two cats that had appeared said.

"It's nice to see that you are doing okay, Sasuke." The other said.

"Uh, who are they?" Karin asked.

"This is Denka." Sasuke said, signaling toward the smaller cat that had spoken first. "And this is Hina." Sasuke then motioned toward the larger of the two cats and the one who spoke up second.

"What cute tanuki." Suigetsu exclaimed as he knelt down to the cat's level. He tried to pet Denka but quickly drew back as Denka hissed and took a swipe at his hand.

"Those aren't tanuki, they're ninja cats." Tamaki corrected him. "So, you better watch yourself around them."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to remember that." Suigetsu said while still holding his hand up from Denka's reach.

"I'm guessing you all are headed to see Nekobaa?" Denka asked the group. Sasuke tapped his nose to signal that he was right. "Well she is just around this corner here." Denka lead the group to an intersection and turned right. A short distance from there was a large room. In the middle of that room, an old woman was sitting down with her legs crossed. She robes and a pink scarf, along with a black cat ear headband. She was surrounded by many of her pet cats.

"It has been a while, Nekobaa. I'm glad to see that you have been able to retain that youthful health of yours after all these years." Sasuke greeted his family's old supplier.

"Oh, this coming from the small boy who used to call me an old hag every time he would see me."

"Well…" Sasuke started, trying to defend himself, but he was interrupted when he started to cough violently.

"Sasuke, are you all right." Tamaki said, placing her hand on Sasuke's right shoulder. Karin growled out of jealousy of the contact.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Sasuke shrugged Tamaki off. Tamaki wasn't convinced. She gave Sasuke a concerned look, but didn't say anything more because she knew that he wouldn't tell her anyway.

"The four of you certainly look beat up." Nekobaa observed. She then took a good look at Juugo. "You especially. Your shirt has a huge tear in it; it looks like it was cut. Were you injured recently?"

Everyone turned to Juugo to see where Himihime had slashed him. They had become so preoccupied with Hinata's appearance that even Juugo had forgotten that he was injured. Now the only sign that there was ever a cut there was the large hole in his shirt. Karin took the liberty of answering Nekobaa's question. "Juugo was injured when he was in his berserker state. The enzymes that caused the state were able to heal him when he was knocked out."

"Well, he'll need a change of clothes regardless. It looks like he just broke out of a prison." Taka obviously tried to look unsuspicious when Nekobaa said this; however, this did make them look suspicious. Seeing this, Nekobaa surmised that she hit the nail on the head.

"Whatever, it's not my business what you do in your spare time, Sasuke. Just don't get into too much trouble."

"It's kind of late for that kind of advice." Sasuke responded in a grim voice. Then, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. It was much more severe than earlier. Sasuke fell to his knees as he started to once again cough violently. Tamaki knelt down to his level to make sure he was alright. When Sasuke stopped coughing, he removed his hand away from his mouth to see that it was covered with his blood. He cursed silently to himself. The blow to his ribcage that he took from Sakura must have done more damage then he thought.

"Sasuke, you are not alright. I can tell just by looking at you that you are having trouble breathing." Tamaki said as she helped Sasuke to his feet, supporting him on her shoulders.

"Take Sasuke to the infirmary, Tamaki. I can take care of these three just fine." Nekobaa ordered to her granddaughter. Karin began to complain and tried to go with the two, but Nekobaa slapped her hand with her pipe and told her to stay here with her team.

"That's right. Bad fangirl, stay." Suigetsu teased, and not to everyone's surprise, Karin slapped him across the face.

Tamaki had lead an injured Sasuke to the infirmary and sat him up on one of the beds. She attached an IV to Sasuke's arm. "It's just some morphine to help with the pain. For the actual injury, you'll just have to rest for a while."

The entire time, since when they left the room with Nekobaa, Sasuke was completely silent. However, Tamaki could now hear a small chuckle coming from her childhood friend. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just remembering the time I sprained my ankle."

It took a few seconds, but the memory came back to Tamaki. "Oh my god, I remember! You fell down the tree like an idiot when you tried to show off your chakra control."

"I also remembered a certain someone who wanted to play doctor."

"Oh yeah, I tried to bandage you up." Tamaki snorted when she remembered the entire incident. "Ha, you looked like a freaking mummy!"

"Well, I wasn't the one who decided that my entire body needed to be wrapped instead of just my ankle."

"Yeah, but it was funny." The room grew silent, and awkward. There was a question that Sasuke needed to ask, and he felt that now would be the best time.

"Tamaki, I want to know, how exactly did you end up working with Naruto, why are you here?"

Tamaki sat down next to Sasuke on the bed. "Well, Nekobaa and I decided to take our shop on the road. We had run into Naruto around a year ago…"

_Tamaki had gotten up early that morning to set up shop. She and Nekobaa arrived in the town just last evening. They rented out a small to use that was located on the town's main road. They only rented it for a couple of weeks as they planned to continue traveling. It was around a half hour before the stand officially opened but Tamaki was already ready. _

_She began to space out when she noticed that two people had approached the stand. The older of the two looked around her age. The person's figure lead Tamaki to guess that he was a boy. He wore a large crimson red coat. The other was a girl that was younger then the boy by no more than three years. She had icy blue hair that stretched to her shoulders, and her eyes had the color to match. She wore a white samurai outfit and had a katana slung over her shoulder._

"_Hello, would you happen to open now?" The boy asked._

"_Uh, yeah we are. What do you need?"_

"_Oh, just some basic supplies; kunai, provisions, that kind of thing."_

"_Alright, let me just get some supplies from the back." As she turned to leave the stands, Tamaki couldn't help but notice that the boy continued to stare at her. It made her a little uncomfortable. She stopped and turned back to face the boy. "There isn't anything else you need, is there?"_

"_Oh no, nothing. I'm just thinking that his description of you is near perfect, Tamaki."_

_Tamaki's eyes widened from shock and then from fear. How did he know her name? "Who are you?"_

"_I'm a friend, in the sense that if I am a friend of your friend, then I must be your friend as well."_

"_Who? What friend?"_

"_Uchiha Sasuke."_

_The boy had surprised her for a second time. "You know Sasuke?"_

"_Quite well, we go way back. I can certainly remember him speaking very fondly of you."_

_Tamaki was still feeling uneasy about this person. "I'm guessing you didn't actually come for supplies."_

"_Then you would be right. I came looking for you."_

"_For me?" Tamaki asked skeptically._

"_Precisely. I did say that Sasuke spoke very highly of you, didn't I?"_

"_What could you possibly want from me?"_

"_Oh, I am certain that you could think of a few things. However, I don't believe any of them will even be close as to how useful you really are. You and your grandmother are both much wanted aid."_

_Tamaki didn't really know how to respond to this person. She had this feeling, no, it wasn't a feeling. She knew that there was a lot more to the situation then what he was telling her, not that he has really told her anything. He just seemed very convincing with saying only so little._

"_Well, are you and that old hag of yours coming or what. We don't have all day you know." Tamaki jumped when the young girl spoke up. She had been concentrating on the boy so much that she had completely forgot that the girl was there._

"_Now Himihime, don't be rude." The boy said as he placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "You don't have too answer right away. When I want a response, I will find you. I would also send a message in advance so that you were prepared. Well then I'll be leaving."_

"_Hold on a second. You haven't told me exactly want you wanted me for." Tamaki called out to them as they turned to leave._

_The boy stopped but didn't turn back around. "There is something you are looking for right?" The boy turned around to face her again. "I can help you find what you lost."_

_For a third time, Tamaki was caught off guard, but she stood her ground. "Well that's very kind of you and all, but can you be trusted? How am I supposed to believe the words of someone who won't even show me his face?"_

"_Oh my God, you are absolutely right. Here I am, some stranger you just met saying all these things to you, and I haven't even properly introduced myself." The boy spoke in a more joyful tone this time. Tamaki was a little taken back by the boy's sudden one eighty personality change. The boy then removed his hood to reveal a rather handsome boy. He had blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and had strange whisker marks on his face. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto."_

Sasuke just stared at Tamaki when she finished her telling of how she met Naruto. "So he came looking for you specifically, why?"

"I still don't know. I'll have done so far is just handle the hideout with grandma."

The infirmary grew silent and awkward. Sasuke then tried to break the ice. "Did Naruto ever keep his promise?"

"What promise?"

"You know, the one about you losing something."

"Actually, he did. Very recently." Tamaki paused and saw the confused look on Sasuke's face. "Sasuke, can you guess why grandma would take the store on the road?"

"No, actually I'm surprised that she would even consider it."

"That's because I was the one who convinced her to do it. Naruto was right, I had lost something very dear to me, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything by staying in some run-down town. Since I did that, I was able to meet Naruto, and he has been able to help me find what I lost."

"Really?"

"Yeah. In fact, I found it just today."

"So, what was it?"

Tamaki started to laugh, leaving Sasuke even more confused. "God, you're so dense! It was you, you idiot. I missed you; I missed hanging out with you. When you stopped coming, I grew lonely. Grandma did get plenty of customers, but I never really enjoyed seeing any of them like I did with you. Then I learned that you had left Konoha, so I decided that I needed to get out there and start looking for you."

Tamaki gave Sasuke a gentle, warm smile. "You are my friend, Sasuke, and I care about you. I want to be there for you when you need me."

Sasuke was left speechless. He wasn't used to this kind of situation. He tried to say something, but nothing would come out. This made him feel awkward. After a few minute of just sitting on the bed, Sasuke finally managed to think of something.

"Tamaki…"

"Yeah?"

"…Thank you."

Now it was Tamaki turn to be speechless. "Yeah…sure."

Then, all of a sudden, they both heard someone screaming Sasuke's name. It was no doubt Karin in her fangirl mode, looking for him. Karin then burst into the infirmary and immediately sensed the atmosphere.

"What's going on here?" Karin demanded. Tamaki and Sasuke ignored her and started whispering to themselves.

"I've never known you to like fangirls, so why is she here in the first place?"

"It can't be helped. Her abilities are useful."

Karin noticed how Sasuke and Tamaki suddenly got closer to one another and tried to intervene. However, she stopped when she felt someone tapping the top of her head.

"Knock, knock." Fuu said as she entered the infirmary. "I hope you're ready Sasuke, because we're getting that curse mark off."

"Hold on a second." Tamaki said. "Sasuke is still injured and he needs to rest."

"No." Sasuke said. "I need to get this done and over with. However, Tamaki, if it make you feel any better, then I'll heal up first."

Tamaki sighed in relief. She wasn't comfortable having Sasuke doing such a dangerous operation in his condition. However, what Sasuke meant by healing was different then want Tamaki thought. Before anyone had noticed what happened, Sasuke was now standing next to Karin and he was biting her arm.

"Ah! Sasuke, warn me before doing that." Sasuke let go of Karin's arm as he had gotten what he needed.

"Sorry."

"Cannibalism?" Was all Tamaki could say because she horribly confused.

"It's Karin's blood." Fuu began to answer any and all question's that were possibly going through Tamaki's head. "Her blood seems to have healing properties. With this, Sasuke should be in a well enough condition to proceed. I'm sure you can't have any complaints now."

Tamaki just pouted when she realized that she was defeated. "Fine, but I'm coming with you."

"That's fine, the more the merrier. Now, come on!" Fuu yelled as she started to pull the other down another hallway. It wasn't long before Fuu lead them into a large dome room. The entire floor of the room was covered by a large fuuinjutsu pattern. Both Karin and Tamaki were impressed.

"Wow."

"I don't remember this being here earlier, when did you do this?" Tamaki asked, turning to Fuu.

"Oh, just now. Naruto had already given me the order to proceed with the operation before he left."

"Naruto's not here? Where is he?" Sasuke asked with great interest.

"The other Jinchuuriki gave him a very important assignment, so he left with Himihime almost immediately."

"I see."

"Good, now do see the circle there in the middle. Yeah, that one right there. That's where I'm going to need you to be. Just sit there, that's all you need to do." Fuu directed Sasuke to his spot and did as he was ordered.

"Is there anything either of us can do?" Tamaki asked, offering her and Karin's aid.

"Yeah, stay out of my way." Fuu said bluntly. She sat down within a circle that was on the edge on the pattern, facing Sasuke. She formed a hand sign and prepared to begin. "Hey, Sasuke."

"What?"

"Have you ever had a tattoo removed before?"

"No, why?"

"Oh, no reason." Fuu responded suspiciously as she activated the jutsu.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Oh my God! I have been so freaking busy. I am pressured for time on the computer, and I'm afraid that already slow updates will get even slower. Hell, this may be one of my last updates in a while. My dad and stepmom seem to be hellbent on me not using a computer this summer. Anyway I hoped you enjoyed this update. Rate and Review, please! According to my stats, the last chapter had no reviews. Come on poeple, I need some feedback. It helps to know if I'm doing a good job here, or if I need some major improvement.


	12. Konoha's Decision

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, because I wouldn't godmod Madara like Kishimoto did.

* * *

Haruno Sakura awoke to find herself in the bed of hospital. Her entire upper body was wrapped in bandages. Her entire body felt bruised, battered, and sore. Having just woken up in this condition, Sakura was feeling disoriented and was having trouble recalling what happened. Then it hit her. Everything that happened during her last mission came back to her. I didn't come bit by bit either. The entire experience hit her like one big wave. Sakura, at first, could only sit their and stare in shock. The mission, Sasuke, and…Naruto; all of it was a little too much to take in all at once. Sakura clenched her fists in anger but caught herself before making an angry outburst. Doing so would probably reopen her wounds.

Technically the mission would go down as a success, since the mission was to find any clues regarding the whereabouts of Uchiha Sasuke. Sakura and her team did the next best thing by finding him there at the hideout. However, on a more personal level, the mission was an utter failure. Sakura hade her chance to capture Sasuke and she blew it. Naruto, a person Konoha believed to have perished a long time ago, had prevented her from finishing off Sasuke. Sakura's fists relaxed as her anger turned into sorrow. Three years ago, Naruto and Sasuke were her trusted teammates. However, Sakura knew that the actions the two of them took on the mission would make them enemy's of Konoha.

Sakura knew that once it was found out that she has regained consciousness she would have to give her half of the report. She herself was still having trouble accepting what happened, and she was afraid about how Lady Tsunade would react to Naruto's involvement. As if on queue, Sakura turned her head to see the door open to her room and the one to step in was her mentor and Hokage of Konohagakure, Lady Tsunade. Sakura could see that Tsunade looked tired and very irritable. Also, she could see some feelings of depression coming to the surface. Something told Sakura that Tsunade was already aware of the situation. There was no doubt in Sakura's mind that this was going to be very hard on her mentor.

Tsunade walked up to Sakura's bed and pulled up a chair. "Sakura, I just got done talking with Shikamaru and the others. I've gotten all I can out of them, now I need your report."

"Well, I'm sure you already know up to the point where I charged head first into the hideout. After that it didn't take me very long to find Sasuke…" Sakura then began to describe her confrontation with Sasuke all up to when her punched was blocked by Naruto.

"So, this newcomer, was it…?" Tsunade began to ask.

"Yeah, it was Naruto, but what made you suspicious it was him?"

"Shikamaru's opponent dropped a little hint on his identity. I needed your report to confirm it."

"Lady Tsunade…" Sakura could hear the hurt in her mentor's voice.

"No, just continue on with your report."

Sakura then began where she left off. "The entire fight felt like he was just messing with me. It didn't take me long to figure out who he was, he wasn't really trying to hide it. Also, the insignia on his coat made it pretty obvious."

"So what did you do when you found out it was him?"

"I immediately attacked him."

"What? Did you at least try to get his side of the story?"

"No, he had riled me too much before hand for me to think clearly. Also, even at the point were he showed his face to me I was still in denial. I was hoping it was someone else that was just using a cruel genjutsu. However, the more I fought him, the more I realized that it was really Naruto."

" Alright, so we determined that he was Naruto, just get on with the report."

"Right. We continued to fight, and it was much of the same. Naruto would block and counter everything I threw at him, and every word that came out of his mouth would get me more enraged and unfocused."

"I didn't know that you were so easily frustrated."

"I'm not, the situation was different, and they weren't normal taunts. He was dropping hints as to what he's been up to for the last three years."

"Like what?"

"Well, I'm sure you'd be happy to know that he's gained control of that bastard fox."

"Yes that is good news."

"However, that's where the good news ends. He's been keeping tabs on me for some time, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was true for the rest of us. He was pretty well informed. Also, he must have been training like crazy too because his level of strength is way beyond anything that any of us could expect. He even claimed to be stronger than you."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sure he's gotten stronger but…" Tsunade began but she stopped when Sakura cut her off.

"He wasn't bluffing. I was defeated outright and he wasn't even trying. I don't think there is any Jounin in Konoha that could stand up to him, not even Kakashi-sensei would be a match for him."

Tsunade could see that there was no doubt in Sakura's eyes. "Well, from what we know at this moment, we are unable to accurately gauge Naruto's strength. Now then, was there anything he said that could have hinted toward what exactly he plans to do?"

"No. Although he definitely made it clear that he is planning something, he just wouldn't say what."

An awkward silence quickly filled Sakura's hospital room. They both weren't taking Naruto's apparent betrayal very well. Sakura was becoming uncomfortable and decided to change the subject.

"So what about Naruto's companion, the one that attacked the others, what do we know about him."

"Well, she for one thing, is a young girl that is probably no older then thirteen and she showed enough skill to be a Konoha Jounin, or a high Chuunin if not that. The girl, who called herself Himihime, has already mastered two elements, suiton and fuuton. She is also a skilled kenjutsu specialist. And last but not least there is her kekkei genkai, which she called hyouton."

"Hyouton? Tell me what jutsu's she used that required that kekkei genkai."

"Well, she only used one, but she did say that she knew others."

"What was the name of the jutsu?"

"Makyou Hyoushou."

Sakura recognized the technique instantly. She then softly chuckled to herself. "It's just one surprise after another…"

"What do you mean Sakura?" Her mentor questioned.

"Did you ever look over the file on Team Seven's mission to the Land of Waves?"

"Yeah I did. I found it hard to believe that a group of three Genin was able to overpower Momochi Zabuza. I understand that it was that mission where you started to take a liking to broadswords."

"Well, I managed to get Zabuza's sword away from him and I just liked the way it felt in my hand. It felt…empowering. Using his own sword against him, Sasuke, Naruto, and I managed to corner Zabuza but Haku did his whole 'senbon death trance' thing. Then the jerk convinced me to give him back the sword saying how it was property of Kirigakure. I'm now regretting doing that."

"Well that's your own damn fault. However, what do you find that is so surprising?"

"Well, when I heard about Haku's past and Kirigakure's method of wiping out kekkei genkais, I was under the assumption that Haku was the last one that could use hyouton. But, thinking back on it now, if Haku's mother was able to go into hiding and hide her identity for so long then it shouldn't be so surprising that there might others out there as well."

"So it's possible that this girl might be a relative of Haku's."

"Definitely, yeah, but I can't say how closely they are related though."

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her face in her hands. "Well, so far, all we know is that Naruto is alive and travels with a young girl named Himihime. Also Sasuke has formed his own team and are all formidable shinobi. Also, for some reason, it seems that Naruto and Sasuke are collaborating. Naruto must have moved fast since Sasuke killed Orochimaru not that long ago."

Sakura was about to agree with the Hokage but stopped as she remembered what Naruto had told her.

"_I wonder how you would react if I told you that Sasuke killed Orochimaru under my orders?"_

"No. Naruto didn't need to move fast because he and Sasuke had already planned Orochimaru's death between themselves."

"What?"

"Naruto said that he was the one plotted Orochimaru's assassination, I think Sasuke was just the most convenient choice. Sasuke was already willing to go to Orochimaru on his own. Actually, knowing Sasuke, I wouldn't be surprised if he was going to kill Orochimaru anyway when he felt he learned all he could from him."

"So, did Naruto throw his fight against Sasuke during the retrieval mission?"

"No, Naruto must have won that fight. Otherwise, I don't think Sasuke would have cooperated with Naruto in the first place."

"Then he must have already planned to leave the village before Sasuke defected."

"Maybe. When I look back…"

"Yeah?"

"When I look back on it now, right before Sasuke defected, Naruto was troubled by something. I tried talking to him but he just brushed me of saying that nothing was wrong, even though it was obviously a lie." Sakura sighed as her memory drifted back to the morning of Sasuke's defection.

"_Alright, is everyone here?"_

_Just last night, Sasuke defected from the village. Sakura attempted to prevent him from leaving, which eventually lead to her engaging Sasuke in combat. She lost the fight and was left unconscious, and she wasn't found until early this morning. Once Tsunade learned of what happened, she immediately called for a mission to retrieve Sasuke. The mission was to be done be two teams, each lead by recently promoted Chuunin Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto. Sakura was also recently promoted to Chuunin, but she was still being interrogated when the mission was given. _

"_Yes, Shikamaru, everyone's here." Naruto answered._

"_Alright then, good." Shikamaru said, now turning to the rest of his comrades. "We've been informed that Sasuke wasn't alone when he left. He met up with four Oto shinobi outside the village. These were the same shinobi that summoned the barrier around the Sandaime and Orochimaru during the invasion. So it is easily said that their level is easily high Chuunin, if not low Jounin."_

"_Now this is how the teams will be split up. I will take Chouji, Neji, and Lee to complete my four-man team. Naruto, that leaves you with Sakura, Kiba, and Hinata. My team will lead and Naruto's team will follow shortly behind and stay out of sight. Since the Oto shinobi's primary objective is delivering Sasuke to Orochimaru, they will probably split up one at a time to make sure the group can keep moving. In a favorable situation, I would like to get my team in four separate one-on-ones so that Naruto's just has to concentrate on getting Sasuke. However, this most likely will not be the case considering our opponents might easily overpower us. So the best my team can do is to separate two to three from the group. Once my team has become completely preoccupied Naruto's team will take the lead to take care of the remaining group and Sasuke. Is that all understood?"_

"_Yes, sir!" The Genin answered._

"_Please, don't call me sir. That's what you call your dad or anyone else older then you, so it makes me feel old."_

"_Yes, but it is also what we call a superior officer. You are a Chuunin, and we are Genin, so we are obliged to call you sir." Neji responded._

"_Ugh, troublesome."_

_Naruto then came up and pated Shikamaru on the back. "Alright then, how about this? All of us completely understand the mission, you lazy-ass. And you know I'd call you that no matter what rank I was."_

"_Naruto!" Lee suddenly intervened. "That is a most unyouthful thing to call your comrade."_

_Shikamaru just shrugged it off saying, "At least he's honest. Anyway, I'll take my team and head out immediately. Naruto, wait for about five minutes before moving out."_

"_Why can't we leave together? As long as we stay out of the enemies sights we'll be fine." Kiba put in._

"_No, our two teams may have the same mission, but we are working separately. As I said before, Naruto's team will not act until my entire team has engaged the enemy. You are to not add any back up or support, even if there is only one person left on my team that is following them. Also, if we keep a greater distance from each other, then the Oto shinobi may believe that only one team was sent after them. So then, when Naruto's team is allowed to act, they will be caught completely by surprise." _

_Shikamaru paused and glanced over his comrades."Alright, seeing as how there aren't any more questions, my team will move out. Again, Naruto, wait about five minutes before heading out." And with that; Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, and Chouji sped off to catch up to their targets._

_Shortly after Shikamaru's group disappeared from sight, Kiba began to get impatient. "Come on, it has to be five minutes, let's go already!"_

"_B-but it's only been about two minutes, Kiba." Hinata said._

"_That can't be, it has to have been longer than that!"_

"_Hey!" Naruto said, wrapping his arm around Hinata's shoulders and pointing his other at Kiba. Hinata began blushing at the sudden contact. "Just because you're impatient and angry doesn't mean you get to take it out on Hinata-chan!"_

_Kiba just blinked and stared at Naruto. Then he stared at the slightly blushing Hinata, and then back at Naruto. "I know you two have been friends since the Academy, but…"_

"_But, what?"_

"_Well, I mean this just might be me, but it seems that ever since the Chuunin Exams the two of you have gotten a lot closer. Are you two, you know, like this?" Kiba slowly raised his pinky._

_Now even Naruto started to blush at Kiba's comment, and Hinata's blush had gotten even worse. Naruto noticed how close he was holding Hinata, her left breast was pressing up against his side. Naruto's entire face went red, as well as Hinata's when she noticed their awkward position. Naruto quickly took a step away from Hinata. His right arm now off her shoulders and Naruto was rubbing the back of his head out of embarrassment._

"_We are close…but we're just…friends…we're not…like that…" Naruto half mumbled while Hinata just starred at the ground, her face getting redder and redder._

"_What was that? I couldn't hear you." Kiba grinned and put his hand up to his ear._

"_You heard what I said, mutt!" Naruto yelled back in annoyance._

"_Come on now." Sakura said while walking between the two arguing boys. "It's best not to get too riled up before a mission."_

"_Jeez." Kiba complained. "We wouldn't even have to do this mission if someone hadn't let Sasuke get away in the first place." _

"_Kiba, are you trying to start a fight?" Naruto yelled._

"_T-that was a little out of l-line, Kiba." Hinata said._

"_No." Everyone's attention turned to Sakura when she spoke up. "Kiba's right. You all wouldn't have to do this if I hadn't hesitated when trying to stop Sasuke. This is my fault, I'm so…"_

"_Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Sakura jumped a little when Naruto interrupted her so suddenly. "This isn't your fault. If you hadn't confronted him last night, then Sasuke would have left unnoticed and he would be long gone by now. Because of your efforts, we still have a chance of getting him back. And we are here, not just because it's what we've been assigned to do, but because we want to be here. Sasuke is our comrade and we are all willing to risk our lives to bring him back."_

_Sakura was unable to hide the shocked expression on her face as Naruto starred at her with complete seriousness. "I know how much Sasuke means to you, Sakura, and I promise you that I will bring him back to you." _

_Naruto waited a few seconds before breaking his eye contact with Sakura. He gave his big, goofy grin as he faced the rest the rest of the group. "Alright, let's go and knock some sense into that teme!"_

"_Finally!" Kiba yelled._

_Once again, Sakura couldn't hide her emotions as a smile crept upon her face. Just last night, she caught Naruto all depressed and moping around the village. She really began to worry when Naruto just avoided any conversation that involved what was bothering him. She soon gave up, guessing that it was something that was a little too personal and that she hade no right to pry too much. So, all she did was hope that Naruto would be able to work it out on his own. Now, she was glad seeing Naruto as his usual self again. _

"…but it was all just an act. I should have known better!" Sakura banged her fist against the wall, creating a small crater; tears were rolling down her face. "I knew, even back then, that Naruto was good at hiding his true feelings, but I was so preoccupied at the time that I didn't even notice. Then the next thing I know Sasuke got away, Naruto disappeared, and Hinata…Hinata…"

"Hinata was killed in action." Tsunade finished for her. "Sakura, do you think that Hinata's death was the thing to give him that final push to leave the village."

"There's no doubt in my mind that that was what happened." Sakura said with complete confidence. "I referenced that very incident during our fight, and I can't help but notice that his reaction was the only real emotion he showed throughout the ordeal. I could see with extreme clarity the rage and sorrow that was in his eyes when I mentioned Hinata."

It grew quite again, and it left Tsunade feeling awkward. She sighed as she rose from her chair. "I think I've heard enough for now. I still have some other work to do."

"Of course." Sakura replied emotionlessly. She was starring down into her lap and her bangs covered her eyes. Tsunade turned to leave. When she reached the door she gave one last concerned look toward Sakura before stepping out and shutting the door behind her.

Tsunade was now sitting in her office, a pile of paperwork in front of her, and a bottle of sake in her right hand. In all honesty, she was relieved to find out that Naruto was alive these past three years. However, she was also dumbfounded to learn that he had willingly and openly attacked a Konoha shinobi, much less a former teammate. She couldn't think of any reason as to why Naruto would do it. The actions Naruto and Sasuke took pretty much guaranteed them the label of missing-nin. There was no way that Tsunade would be able to prevent that, but she could have it so that their status would be to be captured alive only.

Tsunade then heard her office door open. She looked up only to make eye contact with the last person she wanted to see. Shimura Danzō slowly and calmly entered the Hokage's office, supporting himself with the cane he held in his left hand. His right arm supported and covered by his outer black robe. Tsunade mentally prepared herself for another headache. She and Danzō never saw eye to eye, and knew she was in for another argument.

Danzō was the first to speak. "Getting into the sake already, Tsunade?"

"Shut up." Tsunade said, irritably. "I've had a lot on my mind recently."

"Ah yes, I heard about the little incident with the Uchiha boy and the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki."

"Sasuke and Naruto."

"Pardon?"

"Their names, or has your memory begun to slip do to old age?"

"Excuse me then." Danzō didn't sound the least bit sincere. "Anyway, I'm here hoping to discuss what you plan to do with the two."

"Oh, but I thought you would have already made your decision on the matter."

"I have already made my decision, and I have already talked about it with Koharu and Homura, who agree with my opinion. However, it is ultimately up to the Hokage to make the final decision, which is why I am here before you now."

"So, you plan to convince me of going along with your decision?"

"Oh no, I am sure you have already made your decision and will stick strongly to it. I just wish to voice my opinion, too see if I can give some foresight on the matter. So please, tell me what you plan to do."

Tsunade sighed heavily. "Given what happened, I have no choice but to label the two as missing-nin. However, I want them to be taken and brought back here alive. Just alive."

'_Now here comes the disagreement.'_

"I agree…"

'_Huh?'_

"…for the most part."

'_And there it is.'_

"I certainly agree with wanting to catch the Jin…uh, Naruto, alive." Danzō caught himself when Tsunade gave him a death glare. "However, for what reason would the same treatment be used on Sasuke? He is nothing more then a traitor, and if he is let to roam free for too long he may become a threat to village."

"Oh really, I can't think of a reason for Sasuke to target Konoha." Tsunade then gave Danzō a calculating stare. "Unless there is something you need to tell me."

Danzō was silent for a moment. "Of course not. I just believe that Sasuke is too free a spirit. He may not wish to target Konoha himself, but he doesn't have a reason to not target the village either. If he is lead to believe that attacking Konoha would benefit him in his revenge, then he would not hesitate to do so."

"Alright then, but tell me, Naruto could be put into the same group as Sasuke. After all, we don't know of Naruto's intentions at this point."

"Simple really, it's because of the Kyuubi."

Tsunade hardened her gaze toward the elder. "Care to elaborate?"

"Of course. Since the time that Konoha was founded around eighty years ago, the Kyuubi has always been in our possession. Hashirama, your grandfather, distributed many of the Bijuu to other established nations as a form of peace offering. However, he kept the most powerful of the nine, the Kyuubi, here in Konoha in order to crush any idea that the other nations might have had in using their own Bijuu to attack Konoha."

"We've painstakingly been preventing the news of Naruto's disappearance from our enemies for the past three years. However, now that Naruto has begun to move, it will take no time at all for the other nations to realize that Konoha is missing the all powerful Kyuubi. Such news will shrink Konoha's standings with other nations. Some my take this as a chance to invade."

"I really think you're over exaggerating the situation."

"Am I? I think you are underestimating the situation. Even though we had two hosts prior to Naruto, neither of them could properly control nor utilize the Kyuubi's chakra. The best they could do was to suppress the Bijuu to keep it from getting loose. However, even though we couldn't use the Kyuubi, the very fact that we had the power to subdue such a creature was enough to keep our borders intact."

"Well, what about the three Great Shinobi World Wars?"

"Those began under completely different pretenses, and were ultimately unavoidable."

"So you want Naruto back alive just to maintain Konoha's status of power."

"No, I want the Kyuubi back alive to maintain Konoha's status of power. Naruto is expendable. Like you said, Naruto could be grouped together with Sasuke. He is a traitor. However, unlike Sasuke who attacked in self-defense, Naruto attacked our shinobi knowing exactly what he was doing. It would be in the village's best interest if the Kyuubi was extracted from Naruto and resealed within another host."

"What?"

"There's no need to be concerned, Lady Hokage. I already have a number of capable candidates lined up. The other elders, Koharu and Homura, agree with me on this entirely. We are just waiting for you to give the word."

'_Damn, he's got me cornered. Not only does he have a large influence in Konoha in general, but he also as the other elders backing him up. I have no choice but to agree with him. But I'll be damned if he gets his way. It's almost obvious that he wants the Kyuubi's power under his influence.'_

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, keeping a calm composure. "Alright, I see no reason to disagree, but I wouldn't be too hasty in taking out either of the boys. As you said, Sasuke doesn't really have a reason to attack Konoha, so it is still possible to convert him back to our side. And as for Naruto, we still are unaware of his true intentions and would like to find that out before we decide that he is an actual threat."

Again, Danzō hesitated before answering. "I can agree to that. However, if this village is attacked, and it will, then it'll be on your head."

Tsunade just starred back as a response. Danzō turned to leave, but before he reached the door, someone burst into the room. It was a Hyuuga, specifically, a member of the Branch family.

"Isn't it rather rude to burst into the Hokage's office unannounced like that?" Danzō asked.

"I'm sorry, sir," responded the Hyuuga, "but I have to speak with the Hokage, it's an emergency!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hinata?"

"Yes, her body…it's missing!"

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**Author's Note:** I...am...ALIVE...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA...Hahaha...ha...lol. It's been so long since I've updated. All I can say that I've been busy. I also have been changing and improving some plot points for the future. So, yeah, please review, they would be very much appreciated. NO FLAMES. Those are not appreciated.


	13. Himihime vs Kisame

**Disclaimer: **I don't have to say anything, who would want to sue me? I don't got shit.

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Naruto and Himihime were speeding through a thick forest. They barely made a sound as they hopped from branch to branch. The two of them both had their faces covered by hoods. Obviously, Naruto had the hood of his coat pulled over his head. Himihime was wearing a cloak over her normal attire. On the outside it was icy blue in color, inside it was white. The cloak was tied at the neck by a robe. The robe itself was tied around a wooden emblem. Carved on the emblem was the same insignia that was printed on the back of Naruto's coat.

Right after the last meeting between the Jinchuuriki, Naruto quickly found Himihime and told her to come with him on a mission. Himihime wasn't told what he mission was, but she soon found out anyway once the two of them exited the hideout. The same man who appeared earlier, the one dressed in robes and covered his head in bandages, which informed them of Kabuto, was waiting outside the hideout. The man rarely ever talked, and if he did then it would be as little as possible and had great importance. The list of people who knew the man's name and identity was small. That list consisted of Naruto, Himihime, Hinata, and Fuu. As with everyone else, Himihime rarely, if ever, used his real name. She had a nickname for him just like everyone else. Unfortunetly, she didn't use that particular nickname because it gave away his identity way too easily. So, she came up with a nickname for the identity he wore now. She calls him Bandage Man.

Now, Himihime was learning the details of the mission. They were to hunt down Kabuto, or any information of his current whereabouts, or what he could be possibly planning. Essentially, they were just going to look around for anything related to Kabuto in any way. They were given a lead, as the bandaged man informed them that Kabuto's last known whereabouts was a now abandoned laboratory that belonged to Orochimaru. There was no guarantee that Kabuto was still there, however, if they could find any hints towards what he might have been doing there or where he was heading next, then that would be good enough.

Right now, that was where Naruto and Himihime were headed. As they were informed, the laboratory was not far from the Uchiha hideout. For a shinobi it would take only a day to get there. This meant that the pair should reach their destination before the sun would set the next day. Even though the sky was mostly blocked by a barricade of tree tops, Himihime could still tell that the sun was beginning to set and the two of them had a good few hours before dark.

They traveled through the forest before reaching a large clearing. Naruto abruptly stopped. In fact, Naruto's sudden lack of motion surprised Himihime. She almost ran right past him, but she managed to catch herself.

"Senpai, why did you stop?"

"Heh, pay close attention Hime-chan, you'll notice that we'll be having some guests soon."

"Guests?"

Naruto didn't answer her; he didn't have to. Just then two figures appeared from the forest and entered the clearing from the pair's left. One had long, dull black hair tied in a ponytail. Looking at his facial features one would say that he was more beautiful then handsome, and his glowing red eyes would only captivate a person even more. Those red eyes were Sharingan and the man they belonged to was Uchiha Itachi. The man standing next to him was easily a foot taller then Itachi. His appearance was distinctly that of a shark. He had pale blue skin, small round eyes, and gill-like markings under his eyes. Strapped to his back was the infamous sword Samehada, and only one man was known to wield that sword, Hoshigaki Kisame. However, as different as these two appearance's are, they both wore similar black coats designed with red clouds, officially labeling them as members of the S-class criminal organization Akatsuki.

"Well, well, it's been a while, Itachi, Kisame." Naruto greeted them, taking down his hood. Himihime followed suit and removed hers as well.

"Hey look, Itachi, it's the little Kyuubi brat." Kisame said to his smaller teammate. He then turned his attention toward Naruto himself. "You've grown quite a bit in three years. I hope your skills have grown along with your height, boy."

Himihime then stepped forward. "Make even the slightest sign of hostility toward my senpai, and I promise you that your head will be rolling at your feet before you could even reach for that _thing_ you call a sword."

At first, Kisame was a little surprised by Himihime, but that shock was quickly replaced with a wide grin. "You got some spunk their, kid. Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I do…Jaws." As soon as Himihime gave Kisame his little nickname, Naruto started to chuckle. Even Itachi was having trouble keeping his smile hidden.

"Then you should know…" Kisame vanished, only to reappear in front of Himihime, Samehada in hand. "Wounding me is something terribly difficult to do." Kisame hoped to get some reaction out of the girl, but she just continued to stare up at him expressionlessly.

"Now you said that you'd take off my head before I could grab my sword. I would like to know how you could accomplish anything with such an empty threat."

"Like this." Kisame heard the voice coming from behind him. As soon as he realized the girl was no longer in front of him, he turned his head to look behind him. The girl was now behind him, her katana unsheathed and pointed at Kisame's back.

Kisame just smiled as he continued to stare into the girl's emotionless gaze. "You're fast…who are you?"

"Her name is Himihime." Kisame turned back his head to face Naruto. "You could say that she is my disciple."

"Really now?" Kisame turned completely around, towering over Himihime with a wide grin on his face. "I wonder if she is good enough to be shredded by my Samehada."

"Kisame." Kisame and Naruto turned their attention to Itachi, except Himihime, who wouldn't let her guard down around Kisame for even a second. "I know how much you love a good fight, but a little girl? Even for you that is a little low."

"Nobody asked you for your opinion, pretty boy." Himihime said, still not keeping her eyes off Kisame. Now Naruto and Kisame were chuckling.

"This brat really has some guts, doesn't she?" Kisame said.

"Kisame…" Itachi began

"Come on, Itachi." Naruto interrupted him. "Let the children have their fun."

Naruto then vanished and appeared behind Itachi. They stood back to back. "Then we can have some fun on our own."

Naruto whipped out a kunai, and turned around to slice Itachi's back. Itachi dodged, leaped into the trees and disappeared. Naruto followed closely behind.

It was silent in the clearing. Himihime and Kisame continued their starring contest. Kisame kept grinning and Himihime never broke her emotionless stare. Eventually, it was Kisame who broke the silence.

"Looks like you're on your own, girl. Do you think you can handle yourself?"

Himihime didn't responded, verbally. She had grabbed her katana in both hands and was immediately right in front of Kisame, ready to cut him up the middle of his body. Kisame took a quick step back and raised Samehada to prepare for a horizontal swing. The two swordsmen swung their swords. When they connected, Himihime was surprised at the amount of force that was put behind Samehada's swing. She was almost pushed back, but she was able to hold her ground. Then, suddenly, Kisame put even more strength into his swing, causing Himihime to be pushed back a few yards.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, the Monster of Kirigakure, you really do live up to your reputation." Himihime said as she slowly lowered her sword. "I wonder how much of that reputation will tarnish if people found out you were beaten by a little girl?"

"And I suppose that you are going to be that little girl?" When Kisame didn't get a response, he tilted Samehada so the bandages wrapped around it started to unravel, revealing the sword's scaly form. "I and my Samehada have defeated much more deserving shinobi. You wouldn't even qualify as a snack for my sword."

"There's nothing more irritating then hearing a grown man brag." Then, once again, Himihime vanished from Kisame's sight. This time, however, Kisame didn't have enough time to react. Himihime reappeared right in front of him, tilted the sharp end of her sword upward, and swung one-handed up Kisame's upper body. Kisame then jumped back, to evaluate what just happened.

'_Brat! She's even faster then before! I didn't even see her move until it was too late. And she so easily got under my guard. There aren't many people that can do that.'_

Kisame thoughts were interrupted when Himihime began to speak again. "Hm, I put a lot of force into that swing, but only managed to cut you a little. You have some really tough skin."

Kisame looked down. His Akatsuki coat had a long cut going up from his waist to his shoulder. There was a cut the same length and position on Kisame's body, but it wasn't bleeding much and it wasn't very deep.

"But then again, I did do it one-handed and I put nearly no chakra behind it, so such a result is expected."

'_Now who is the one bragging?'_

"Alright, I guess it's time I took this fight seriously." Himihime said as she took a stance.

Kisame stood there, studying the girl intently. _'There's…there's so much chakra being channeled through the sword. Not only that, but she's using fuuton to sharpen the chakra. There is no way that a girl of her age's chakra could have matured to such an extent.'_

Himihime charged Kisame, sword in both hands, her chakra visibly wrapped tightly around her blade. Himihime swung and Kisame swung to counter. When their swords collided, the force of that collision sent out a sonic boom and broke the ground underneath them.

'_Damn, the brat wasn't kidding. She is pretty good. However, I can just absorb the chakra that's being channeled through the sword.'_

Samehada then began to devour Himihime's chakra. The glow of chakra that was coming from the sword began to fade. However, something was wrong. Samehada continued to eat even more and more chakra, and Himihime showed no signs of weakening or exhaustion.

'_What's going on? I know that I absorbed all of the brat's chakra that was in the sword, but when I tried to pull our more…it got cold, almost freezing. Also, the texture is very different from any chakra that Samehada has eaten before.'_

Then, Kisame couldn't hide is shock when Samehada began to freeze over. Kisame quickly pulled away from the deadlock, wanting Samehada to break any connection from Himihime's sword as soon as possible. Kisame lost his cocky grin and was now glaring down at the girl.

"What's wrong, Jaws? Why so serious all of a sudden? I thought we were going to have fun with this." Now Himihime was the one with a cocky smile.

Kisame then started to chuckle, having regained his composure. "I see, I get it now, this is quite interesting. That sword of yours has a chakra all its own, doesn't it?"

This time it was Himihime who couldn't hide her shock. Her face grew stern and cold, an expression that could make even the most bloodthirsty of opponent's stop dead in their tracks. "I see, so you figured it out…well some of it at least. Kisame, do you know the name of my sword?"

"No. Even though you've had the honor of learning the name of my sword, you have yet to give the name of yours."

"The name of my weapon is…" The suddenly became cold. Chakra began emitting from both Himihime and her sword. The very ground Himihime stood on began to freeze over. "…Kooriga Akumawo."

Himihime swung her blade. A row of large icicles shot toward Kisame. He side-stepped out of the way only to see Himihime speed down the row towards him. Kisame then began to dodge and guard against a series of acrobatic assaults of taijutsu and kenjutsu. Himihime was using her much smaller stature to her advantage. The combination of Himihime's size and agility made it hard for Kisame to keep track of her. She only gave him enough time to defend before he was able to counterattack.

Then it came, the opening Kisame was waiting for. Himihime appeared in front of him. She was kneeling down, her sword in her right hand and aimed for his throat. She jabbed forward, hoping to end it their, but Kisame grabbed the blade with his free hand. He prepared to bring Samehada down on the girl, but he started to feel a weird sensation. His fingers began to freeze over. Kisame let go of the sword. Himihime took this as her chance. She swung her katana upward. A stream of freezing water followed her swing, entrapping Kisame within a block of ice. Kisame then turned into a pool of water, froze, and became apart of the ice. Himihime turned around to see Kisame standing a good distance away from her.

"Your really something else, kid, that's for sure. You're pretty good with that sword."

"Of course I am. For as long as I can remember it has always been just me and this sword. That is, before I met my senpai."

"I can't understand why you follow him, anyway. You do know that the person who ordered the eradication of all kekkei genkai in Kirigakure was a Jinchuuriki himself."

"Exactly who do you take me for?" Himihime bore Kisame down with an intense and cold stare. "Yagura is no longer _that_ man's puppet."

Kisame was speechless. He was unable to remove the shock from his face. "How do know about him?"

"My senpai and I have known of his existence for a long time." Himihime flared her chakra again, this time with much more intensity. Kisame could even physically feel the pressure of her chakra from where he stood. "I'd like to get this over with; me and senpai have somewhere to be."

Himihime charged Kisame head on. Kooriga Akumawo collided with Samehada. Cold chakra was emitting itself out of Kooriga Akumawo and surrounded both warriors. Kisame was being pushed back, so he attempted to force Himihime back. However, to Kisame's surprise, Samehada began to cower under the pressure of the chakra from Oniochiiruhyou. Himihime noticed this as well and took this as her chance. Using the combined force of her chakra and Kooriga Akumawo's, Himihime focused both their chakra and manipulated it into a large amount of pure fuuton. By using the force of pure strength and a large gust of wind that she built up using fuuton, Himihime pushed Kisame back. However, she built up more force than necessary and ended up throwing Kisame out of the clearing and into the forest.

"…Oops."

Himihime quickly chased after Kisame. It wasn't very hard to follow where he was thrown, considering there was a path of broken trees and branches that showed her the way. She followed the path until she reached another clearing. There she found Kisame, waiting for her. Kisame himself was quite beaten up from being thrown like that, and he wasn't too happy about. Still, he could put some of the blame on himself for underestimating her.

'_Where the hell did a brat like this get so much power and skill? First, there's that sword of hers, Kooriga Akumawo. The chakra that that sword gives off is definitely not human. Second, how was she able to form ice like that without hand signs?'_

Kisame gripped Samehada tighter and reached for the bandages that were wrapped around it, while his cocky grin began to reform. "I think it's about time I stopped playing nice."

"Same here." Himihime responded, and began to reach for the bandages that were wrapped around the hilt of Kooriga Akumawo.

"Really, Kisame, you can't even handle a little girl, for shame." Kisame and Himihime turned to see who had spoken up. It was Naruto, who was sitting down on his knees next to a small table, a cup of tea in hand. On the other side of the table was Itachi, who was sipping tea from his own cup. Himihime and Kisame gaped open their mouths a little as they looked at the two completely confused by the situation.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING!" Himihime and Kisame yelled in unison.

Itachi was the one to answer them, as Naruto began to sip from his cup. "Just because the two of you are so eager to fight, doesn't mean we are. We find this to be much more civilized then beating the crap out of each other."

The two swordsman stood there, speechless. Naruto then sighed after finishing his sip and rested the cup in his hands. "By the way, Itachi. Looking at the current state the two of them are in, you can't deny I won, so pay up the 5000 ryo you owe."

Itachi then reached into his pocket and pulled out some bills. He then proceeded to give them to Naruto.

"Thank you."

Kisame and Himihime were still speechless. Then Himihime decided to break that silence.

"What the hell is going on, senpai!"

"Well it's very simple really. Itachi here didn't think that I leaving you to fight Kisame alone was a good idea. I disagreed, saying you could handle him just fine. Eventually this little debate turned into a bet on whether you would be even a match for Kisame or not, and I obviously won."

"No, not that. I could care less about that. I just want to why you two are calmly drinking tea together."

'_Not mention where they got the tea from, or the cups, or even the table?'_

"Yeah, for once I'm going to agree with the midget." Kisame finally spoke up.

Itachi then began to speak. "Well, believe it or not, we are all here for the same reason, to eliminate Yakushi Kabuto. So, after some civilized and nonviolent discussion, I agreed to let Naruto have him."

"But Itachi, we were ordered to take him out."

"So, as long as it gets done, it doesn't really matter who kills him." Itachi put his empty cup down on the table. "Thank you for the tea Naruto."

"Oh no, it's fine, I enjoyed the company."

'_Those two are being way too chummy.'_ Both Himihime and Kisame thought.

"Come on, Kisame, we're leaving."

"Ah man, whatever." Kisame then stopped and tunred back to Himihime. "Don't think this will be the last time we meet, brat. Next time, I won't go so easy on you."

"Then I will shall return the favor when that time comes."

Kisame quickly caught up to Itachi. The two of them quickly left into the thick forest. Naruto then got up and walked over to Himihime, patting her on the shoulder.

"So, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, senpai." Himihime then looked back to the table only to see that it was gone.

'_Where did it go?'_

_

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_

**Author's Note: **HELP! The name of Himihime's sword is wrong, very wrong. It is soppused to mean, roughly, "Demon trapped in the ice". I could find no translation website that could help me. I could get each individual term to put the name together, but don't know anything about Japanese grammer. If you are reading this and you are Japanese or at least know Japanese grammer, please help me so I can fix the proplem as fast as I can. It would be greatly appreciated. (Now fixed, I hope. The new sword name, Kooriga Akumawo, means "ice prisoned demon). Also, rate and review, that is appreciated to. However, flames are not.


	14. The Corpse

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't keep godmoding Madara like that. I mean, come on! The Rinnegan! Might as well give him a jutsu that allows him to bend reality. Oh yeah, he does have that! It's called Izanagi! Jesus Christ, all he needs now is a single jutsu that can wipe out an entire major nation. Seriously.

* * *

Tsunade and Danzō were currently under the Hyuuga grounds within a tomb reserved for those of the Main Branch of the clan. After the Branch member had informed them that Hyuuga Hinata's body was missing, they both left without hesitation. When the two arrived at the tomb, they had confirmed for themselves that Hinata's body was missing from the tomb. After that, Tsunade called for an ANBU squad to investigate the scene.

Not a moment later, a group of three ANBU arrived within the tomb. One had short, spiky brown hair and wore an intricately designed cat ANBU mask. Another, the only female in the group, also had a cat mask, but was much plainer then the other's and looked more like a typical ANBU mask. She had long dark purple hair and had a katana strapped to her back instead of the usual tantou. The last member wore a standard ANBU uniform and had a wolf mask. His only unique aspect was his tall spiky white hair.

The white-haired ANBU was kneeling down; studying the stone coffin that once held Hyuuga Hinata. Tsunade, Danzō, and the other three ANBU were waiting for the results of his analysis. A couple minutes past and the ANBU's eyes still didn't leave the coffin. Tsunade then decided to speak up.

"Well, Kakashi, do you see anything?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry, I just zoned out for a minute there." Kakashi turned back to the coffin and then looked back to his comrades. "You said this place was on constant watch?"

"Yes." Tsunade answered. "The Hyuuga even have a group inspect the tomb once a day. All those buried here never had the Hyuuga Juinjutsu branded on them. This place is one of the most heavily guarded areas in the village because of that. So it makes me wonder how anyone could have gotten away with this without even being noticed."

"Well, I wouldn't know either. I don't even think I could do something like this. But this I can say, Hinata's body was not stolen recently."

Danzō spoke up this time. "Care to elaborate on that."

"Of course. When I studied the coffin with my Sharingan, I could see the remains of what seemed to be a genjutsu. The purpose of the genjutsu was to make look as though Hinata's body was still here."

"That doesn't make sense, Kakashi." The purple-haired ANBU said. "The guards would have seen through the genjutsu with their Byakugan."

"That is true, Yūgao. However, my former student, Sakura, managed to create a genjutsu to specifically counter the Sharingan. So it shouldn't be too hard to believe that someone could create one that could counter the Byakugan as well."

"Yes, but that would require some knowledge on how the Byakugan works." Danzō said, bringing himself into the conversation again. "Knowledge that is greatly uncommon outside the village."

The ANBU with the intricate cat mask spoke. "There are plenty of Konoha ninja that have defected. It is very possible that at least one of them has some knowledge of the Byakugan."

"Alright, alright." Tsunade said, becoming a little irritated. "It is good that we should know how this happened so it doesn't again. However, I find the more pressing matter being Hinata's body and how we get it back and for what purpose was it taken. So, Kakashi, if her body wasn't taken recently then how long do you think that her body has been missing?"

"I'm afraid I can't give an accurate answer. The only reason why someone would put up a genjutsu would be to buy themselves time. The genjutsu wasn't dispelled; it wore off on its own. So the illusion was placed quite some time ago. Whatever those responsible needed Hinata's body for, they have probably already finished."

"So the enemy probably has the Byakugan already." Danzō said.

"It's already too late then?" The ANBU with the intricate cat mask asked.

"No, Yamato." Tsunade said. "The enemy may have the Byakugan, but we still have to deal with those that stole it. If we don't act quickly, the Byakugan will become a weapon that is sold to the highest bidder."

"That's easier said then done." Kakashi said. "Whoever did this left absolutely no trail behind and we have no leads as to who did it. We haven't even started yet and we're already at a dead end."

"…That's not entirely true." Danzō said.

"You have something to add?" Tsunade questioned.

"Yes, it was about two and a half years ago I believe. You remember what happened then don't you, Tsunade?"

"…Oh yeah, wasn't it when that rogue shinobi started to rampage through the village?"

"I remember that." Yūgao said. "He was screaming about achieving the ultimate power or something like that. He was pretty cocky and arrogant, and was taken down rather easily."

Yūgao turned to Danzō. "You really think that man was involved with Hinata's missing body."

"Yes, but not directly. He was but a mere decoy. When he was interrogated, all he said was that a man gave him some kind of drug that would increase his power ten-fold."

"Is that why he was so confident?" Yamato asked. "But he wasn't even that strong. A single Konoha Jounin had easily matched his strength."

"Yes, and after some investigation on my own part, I learned that the man was only given a placebo. He was injected with nothing more than sugar water."

"So, that means that the rouge shinobi was just used as a sacrificial decoy so that the true culprit could sneak in and take Hinata's body while the village was distracted." Kakashi surmised.

"Exactly, and I later learned of who gave the rogue the placebo. It was Orochimaru."

The tomb grew silent and tense at the news. Tsunade then broke the silence. "Well, that is certainly disheartening; to learn that Orochimaru had possibly acquired the Byakugan. However, Sasuke killed Orochimaru some time ago and we haven't gotten any news about our enemy's suddenly having some Byakugan knock-offs. So, I guess that we don't have to worry too much."

"Hmm, again, not completely correct." Danzō said.

"What is it now?" Tsunade responded, irritated.

"Well, I happened to have come across some rather interesting information from some of my various sources. Yakushi Kabuto has grated a part of Orochimaru's corpse onto himself. Also, Orochimaru's cells have begun to spread across his entire body. In the end, Kabuto will either succumb to the power and Orochimaru will be reborn or Kabuto will stay dominant and acquire power that would equal Orochimaru in his prime, if not stronger. Neither scenario is desired, but it all comes down to that Kabuto is most likely in possession of the Byakugan."

"Well that is certainly is helpful and intimidating. However, I would like to know why I haven't been informed of this already." Tsunade said, becoming very frustrated.

"I would have, but I have no concrete evidence. I do trust my sources, but I have yet to see any physical evidence myself. I was planning to inform you until I was one hundred percent sure."

"Yeah, sure." Tsunade scuffed. She then turned her attention toward the ANBU operatives. "With this new information, we at least have some lead. Do we have the locations of any of Orochimaru's hideouts that have had any recent activity?"

"Hmm." Kakashi crossed his arms while thinking of an answer. "No, after Sasuke visited the Northern and Southern hideouts, all locations went quite."

Then, another ANBU suddenly appeared. The newcomer was a boy around sixteen. Other than the small backpack he carried, his ANBU uniform was traditional. He had short, tidy black hair and wore a mask of an eagle.

"Lady Hokage, Lord Danzō." The ANBU greeted his superiors.

"Yes, what is it?" Tsunade asked.

"I have just returned from a scouting mission. My team was investigating a nearby laboratory that belonged to Orochimaru. However, when we got there, we were attacked."

"Attacked? By who?"

"Yakushi Kabuto." Again, the atmosphere in the tomb became tense. When no one responded to his answer, the ANBU continued. "He was able to use many of Orochimaru's techniques with skill that outmatched my squad completely. I do not wish to speak out of line, but I would think even our Hokage would have trouble confronting him."

"No, you are not out of line. If what you say is right, than Kabuto should at par with Orochimaru when he was in his prime. Well, anyway, what happened to the rest of your squad?"

"I was the only one who survived." The ANBU answered with no hesitation.

"Alright then." Tsunade turned to Kakashi, Yūgao, and Yamato. "I want the three of you to head over to that laboratory immediately. Kakashi, you're squad leader."

Tsunade then returned her attention to the newcomer. "What is your name?"

"Sai."

"Alright, Sai, I want you to go with them as a guide and resource. In case Kabuto is still there, we need someone who has already fought him. Now, go get ready to move out."

"Hai, Lady Hokage!" Kakashi, Yūgao, and Yamato then shunshined out of the tomb, leaving behind Tsunade, Danzō, and Sai. Realizing that Sai had not left, Tsunade turned to address him.

"When I said to move out, that included you Sai."

Danzō stepped forward to defend him. "I'm sorry, Tsunade, but I would like to ask some questions myself before he leaves, if that is alright with you."

Tsunade starred at the two suspiciously. "Fine, do what you want, I have to go back to the office. All that paperwork won't sign itself."

Tsunade left the two alone in the tomb. Danzō waited until he was sure that he and Sai were the only two in the tomb. "Sai, what is the rest of your squad currently doing."

"They are trailing Uzumaki Naruto, and his disciple, Himihime."

"So you were able to locate him?"

"Yes, the two of them are currently heading toward the laboratory themselves. If timed right, this new group should meet them there."

"That's good to hear. By the way, did your squad actually engage Kabuto?"

"No, we kept hidden. However, he knew we were their, and yet, he made no effort to confront us. The feel of his chakra was immense and dark. Compared to him, me and my squad were of no threat to him. I was not lying when I said that he could fight on par with the Hokage."

"Alright then, I want you to lead this new squad to the laboratory and find any info you can find and bring it to me. Also, you will most likely run into Uzumaki there. I want you to capture him and bring him back to the village. He must be brought back alive. If I am going to ascend to the rank of Hokage, then I will need the Kyuubi's power to do it."

"What of the rest of my squad."

"If I have trained them properly, then they will not act unless Uzumaki escapes from you or the majority of the squad you're going out with now is left unable to fight. Remember; bring him back alive, at all cost."

"Understood, Lord Danzō." And with that Sai left to regroup with his new teammates.

It was night at Konoha's main gate three ANBU stood. Yūgao, Yamato, and Sai were all prepared to go on their mission. They were just waiting for Kakashi, their squad leader, to arrive. Eventually, Kakashi showed up, much to Yūgao's annoyance.

"You're lat, again." She said. "You would think that after you re-joined the ANBU you would have quit that nasty habit of yours."

"Sorry, there was just something about all this that's bugging me."

"Oh, like what?"

"Well, Orochimaru had gotten himself a once in a lifetime opportunity when his subordinates where able to infiltrate the Hyuuga tomb. Also, the Hyuuga's make well to preserve the body's that are buried within. Because of this, the bodies in the tomb decay at a very slow rate. So I want to know is why Orochimaru only took one Hyuuga corpse, and why choose Hinata?"

"I don't understand, Kakashi-senpai." Yamato said.

"All right, let's say if I wanted to steal the secrets of the Byakugan and I happened to have found my way into the Hyuuga tomb, I wouldn't take just one body. One would want multiple bodies to study from to compare and check for any irregularities in individual eyes. One would want at least two sets of eyes; one fully developed and one still developing. This would be to study all the secrets that the eyes hold and how a developing eye would unlock these secrets."

"For all of this to be done, you would need at least two bodies and Orochimaru only took one. That body just happened to be Hinata. Why Hinata? There was nothing unique about her Byakugan, so I tried to think about what made Hinata stand out from the rest of her family. Eventually I came up with an answer."

"What did you think of?"

"Tell me, have any of you heard of the news from Haruno Sakura's last mission?"

"You mean Uzumaki Naruto? What about him?" Yūgao asked.

"Out of all the people in the village, besides Sasuke, Hinata was probably the closest person to Naruto. Thinking about what Naruto is, I can't help but feel that the Byakugan wasn't the only reason that Hinata's body was taken."

"Are you suggesting that Orochimaru wanted to use Hinata to lure Naruto out?"

"Yeah, but I'm guessing it didn't work out too well."

"What would Orochimaru want with Naruto?"

"Well, the Kyuubi obviously. Orochimaru wasn't on very good terms with the Akatsuki after he abandoned the organization. So capturing Naruto would probably mess with some of the Akatsuki's plans and it would give him access to one of the most powerful beings in this world."

It was silent at the gates. Kakashi's little explanation was certainly something to think about. Sai eventually broke the silence.

"Are you all done because we get going."

"Yeah, you're right, Sai, was it?" Yūgao answered him. "By the way, why were you so late following us from the tomb?"

"Oh, Lord Danzō just wanted to talk to me about something."

"Really, what?" Yūgao never got an answer as Sai ignored her. Pretty much saying it was none of her business. Besides, even if Sai wanted to tell her, he couldn't. Danzō's Juinjutsu pretty much made certain of that.

"All right, I think we are all now ready to go." Kakashi said, signaling them to move out. "Sai, lead the way."

With that, the four ANBU disappeared from the gate.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Himihime were walking down a forest path, with their hoods up again. It has been quite some time since they ran into Itachi and Kisame. Since then, neither of them has run into any trouble. Actually, the trip had gotten quite boring. Himihime made sure to take note of this every time she yawned. Naruto just reassured her by saying that they were almost there. Eventually the path ended. What awaited them at the end of the path was a row of very large and thick trees. Even a shinobi would have trouble moving through something like that.

"We're here." Naruto said.

"What the hell." Himihime said. "Where's the hideout?"

"What do mean Hime-chan? It right there." Naruto pointed straight ahead toward the trees.

"Senpai, those are trees."

"Oh silly Hime-chan, those aren't trees. It's a genjutsu, and badly thought out one at that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well for one thing, the row of trees in front of us, when the meet the forest at either side of us, make a perfect right angle. Also, the path we are on doesn't end at the trees ahead. It goes right through them without stopping."

Himihime looked closely at the trees and found Naruto to be right. She also found out that she felt pretty stupid right now.

"So, Hime-chan," Naruto continued. "Do you think you can dispel it for us? You know me; I'm not very good when it comes to things like this."

"Yeah, I know."

Himihime formed a hand-sign and the trees began to fade away. What took their place was a large three-story building that was circular in shape. Each story was smaller that the other, but not by too much.

"Mmm, makes me think of cake." Naruto then placed his hand over his stomach. "And thinking of cake makes me hungry."

"Senpai, you brought some ramen with you, right?"

"Um, no. I kinda forget and we were in such a hurry…oh well, it can't be helped now." Naruto looked up at the building, as if studying it.

"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yay, update. I just got the new Naruto game a few days ago, and I can't stop playing it. I have already beaten the story and unlocked all the characters. I just need to get two or three more trophies and it is 100% done. So I've just been playing online. Actually, I'm playing online right now, and all the higher ranked people keep picking on me. It's not fair. But I do have a 19 to 11 Win/Lose ratio. Sweet. So if you want to know if I pwned you or if you handed my ass to me in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2, my user name is hollowficated. So, yeah, review please. And remember kids, don't flame. It's bad, 'mkay.


	15. The Vices

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Naruto and Himihime stood in front of the entrance to the laboratory. It didn't have a door. The entrance was just a long, dark hallway. Himihime leered suspiciously at the entrance. A place like this was guaranteed to have traps. Himihime was about to speak up on how it would be best to be cautious. However, Naruto spoke before her.

"Well, I guess all there is to do is to just charge straight in."

Himihime hit him with her sheathed sword.

"You're being stupid on purpose."

"Ow, that was unnecessary Hime-chan. I didn't say that we were going in."

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."_

Naruto created around thirty clones. He had the clones line up single file and had them charge straight into the hallway. The line of clones ran down the hallway yelling and cheering. Eventually, they were far enough down that Naruto and Himihime couldn't hear them, or they just stopped yelling. Then the two shinobi started hearing pain filled screams and the sounds of clones dispelling. One by one, the memory of every trap that the clones fell in returned to the original Naruto. During this ordeal, Naruto never dropped his goofy grin. Once all the clones were dispelled, Himihime turned to her senpai.

"So, exactly what kinds of traps were there?"

"…You don't want me to answer that."

Himihime eyed her senpai suspiciously as he strolled into the hideout. She gave a heavy sigh and followed behind. Like most of Orochimaru's places, the laboratory as mostly consisted of a maze of hallways that hade a bunch of smaller rooms to the left and to the right. Some rooms one could tell were used for housing individuals. However, most of the rooms were full of beds and equipment. These were obviously used for experimentations. Neither Naruto nor Himihime would be surprised when they would see stains of dry blood and strange liquid all over the floors and walls.

For the next couple hours, Naruto and Himihime ventured through all three floors of the laboratory. They found much of the same thing on every floor. They now found themselves on the top floor of the building. Just like the two floors below them, they found nothing.

"God damn it!" Himihime yelled in frustration. "We've been over every inch of this God forsaken place and haven't found a single damn thing!"

"No we haven't." Naruto said.

"Then where haven't we looked?"

"The basement."

"The basement?"

"Yep."

"But we didn't see any entrance to a basement when we searched the first floor."

"That's because you can't get to the basement on the first floor."

"Huh?"

Naruto then pointed to his right. Himihime walked down the hallway passing by a couple rooms. She stopped when she found a staircase. To the left of the opening to the staircase was a sign that read Basement.

"Who the hell would put a staircase to a basement on the TOP floor?"

"It really would be the last you'd look." Naruto answered her.

"Tch, whatever."

Himihime started for the staircase, but Naruto stopped her.

"I'll go alone. I want you to keep watch."

"Keep watch for what? There's no one here but us."

"That doesn't mean that someone could arrive while we're still here." Naruto then grinned at her mockingly. "What's wrong, Hime-chan? Ya scared?"

"NO! I can take care of anyone that would dare try to get past me."

"And that's why I'll always count on you to watch my back."

Naruto smiled sincerely at Himihime when he said that and patted her on the head. Himihime grunted out of annoyance, but she wasn't about to refuse her senpai. Naruto then reassured her that it was most likely that they won't be interrupted anyway.

Naruto then made his way down the staircase. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Naruto found himself in a large round room with a single light illuminating the room from the center of the ceiling. The room was empty except for one thing. One the opposite end of the room was a large computer. One bound to be full of data and info.

"Jackpot!" Naruto proclaimed.

Naruto practically skipped across the room toward the computer. When he reached it, Naruto immediately booted it up. When the computer was finished turning on, the screen went white and a single window popped up asking for a password. Naruto just starred at it.

"Agh! I can't think of a password, and I'm no hacker either."

Naruto then stopped trying to pull his hair out when he remembered that he carried something around with him for this very reason. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a floppy disk.

"And Hime-chan said that we'd never get the chance to use this." Naruto said as he pushed the disk into the slot.

A multitude of windows popped up. At blazing speeds, the program within the floppy disk went through many different combinations of letters and words and entered them into the computer as possible passwords. After a few moments, the correct password was entered giving Naruto complete access to whatever information that was kept inside the computer. Naruto skimmed through the list of files in the computer. There weren't that many, however there was a file that was significantly larger than the others.

"The Capital Vices Project? Well, it can't hurt to look."

Naruto was just about to open the file when a group of black rods speed past Naruto and struck the computer, making it unusable. Naruto looked closely at the rods only to realize that they weren't rods at all. Anyone could come to that conclusion when they saw that whatever struck the computer was two-dimensional. Actually they reminded Naruto of a very familiar Jutsu.

"Kage Nui no Jutsu?"

"Close, but not quite correct."

Naruto turned to see a man standing on the other end of the room, blocking his only exit. The man had pitch-black eyes, slicked back brown hair, and a permanent sneer across his face. He was dressed in very formal wear. He had on a navy blue kimono and a black hakama over it. Over that, he wore a black haori with golden décor along the bottom. However, the man's outfit wasn't what Naruto was paying attention to. Naruto was more concerned on how the man got down here. He didn't hear any struggle from upstairs and he didn't hear anyone come down the steps. He just simply appeared out of nowhere. Naruto quickly threw those thoughts out the window. They were not important right now. What he needed to do was concentrate on how to deal with the man here and now. So, he started poking the black things that attacked the computer repeatedly.

"So, if this isn't the Kage Nui no Jutsu, then what is it?"

"I don't think it would be something you could understand." The man said as he retracted his 'shadows'. Naruto did not fail to notice that the man was not using any hand signs.

"I don't know, I've seen a lot of strange things before, and I can tell you that this doesn't even compare."

"Oh, and what might those things be?"

"I don't think they're something you could understand."

Naruto and the man starred each other down; neither of them moved a muscle or tried to speak. They were waiting for one or the other to make the first move. The man eventually broke the silence.

"You know, I was told to keep watch for any intruders, but you were the last person I would suspect to see, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Well that's not fair. You know who I am, but I have no idea who you are."

"Then introductions should be in order."

The man's shadow began to grow behind him. It stretched up wall and along the ground. Then, it shot out as it split into a number of smaller shadows; sharp and aiming for Naruto. He moved fast and maneuvered out of path of the shadows. However, more shadows shot out in the direction Naruto was moving. Naruto changed direction again, but was met with the same result. Eventually Naruto found himself surrounded.

"Uzumaki, before I tell you who I am, and ultimately kill you, there is a question I would like to ask you."

"Fire away." Naruto said, who was the least bit nervous about his situation.

"Can you tell me what the Capital Vices are, Uzumaki?"

"In all honesty, I have no idea."

"They are Lust, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, and Pride. More commonly known as the Seven Deadly Sins. The Capital Vices Project was a top secret series of experiments that Orochimaru started to create the seven ultimate weapons to have under his command."

"So they were seven people who were proficient with the curse mark?"

"The curse mark? Don't be absurd, every member has a unique ability all their own. The curse mark was in fact a byproduct of this project, so don't even try to compare us to that common thing." The man shot back with disgust.

"Us? Does that mean you were apart of the project?"

"I wasn't just apart of it. I was the one Orochimaru put in charge of the entire project. I studied every subject and conducted every experiment myself. I am very happy to say that all seven spots are accounted for. Our most recent member joined around two years ago. In fact, the very first successful experiment conducted was on myself. That is why I am the first Vice known as Pride."

Himihime was waiting patiently for her senpai to return. Since he left, Himihime has been standing right outside the entrance to the staircase, keeping a very close watch on her surroundings. She didn't understand why he was making her keep watch like this. Sure, they knew that a few ANBU had started trailing them when they started to get close to the laboratory, but they didn't follow them in. Also, it was completely quite inside the laboratory. Himihime was completely sure that the ANBU were still outside waiting for the two of them, but she got this eerie feeling that she was being watched anyway.

Still, nothing has happened so far, and Himihime was getting bored. She really did wish Naruto had taken her to the basement with him. For all she knew, there might be something of actual interest down there. However, her senpai told her to stay where she was and wait, and Naruto never asks her to do something without reason.

"Hehe, Pride was right, there is someone up here."

Himihime instantly became on guard, her right hand reaching for the katana strapped to her waist. She didn't draw her sword because at first glance the newcomer didn't look too much a threat. He was nothing but skin and bones, in the literal sense. He was way beyond being just malnourished. Physically speaking, he shouldn't even be able to stand. He wore nothing but tattered robes that draped over his legs. His long black hair hung down his back and covered up the majority of his face. The only part of his face that Himihime could see was wide, large, big-toothed grin.

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name? You want my name? But Pride said to not tell."

"Well Pride's not here right now, is he?"

"But he'll know if I do, he always knows. Besides, if I do good I get to eat."

"Well, it looks you need it. I'm guessing you haven't eaten in a while."

"Oh yeah, I haven't been let out in a long time, but Pride finally came to get me. He said I'll get to eat again."

"Yeah well, I don't see what this has to do with me. This is more your problem."

The man's grin just grew even larger. Himihime calmly and slowly moved her hand away from her katana. The man was obviously hostile. However, giving his physical condition, one good hit should knock the guy out, permanently. Before the man could react, a blue orb of chakra quickly formed in Himihime's right hand.

"_Rasengan!"_

In a blink of an eye, Himihime had rushed the skinny man and rammed the chakra orb into his gut. Normally when someone is hit dead on with a Rasengan, they would be sent flying and wouldn't stop until they lost momentum or hit something. However, this was not the case this time. Yes, the man was knocked down, but it looked like Himihime just punched him in the gut with her bare hands.

"Such strong chakra, it tastes so good. A little cold, but still good." The man said as he slowly got himself up from the ground. What Himihime saw when the man was standing up again did nothing less then surprise her. There should have been a large wound where Himihime hit him. A big bruised and burnt wound, but there was nothing there. In fact, it looked like his health had gotten a little better. Himihime blinked a couple times and made sure she wasn't just seeing things. Unfortunetly, she wasn't.

"You'll be a great snack."

Himihime didn't give the man a chance to try anything. She immediately moved back to create a far distance. Himihime drew her sword, chakra flaring, preparing to cut the man down.

"_Kaze no Yaiba!"_

Himihime swung her sword vertically. A sharpened blade of chakra and wind flew across the hallway. It hit the man, but it did not have the desired effect. Instead of slicing through him, the blade just vanished when it made contact. If Himihime wasn't sure before, then she was now. The man could absorb chakra.

"_Damn it! It's like fighting Jaws all over again!"_

Then it hit her. Whenever Kisame or his sword, Samehada, would try to absorb the chakra from Kooriga Akumawo they would start to freeze over. If the same rule applied to this situation as well, then Himihime knew what to do. So, she began to channel Kooriga Akumawo's chakra into herself. Just like always she felt a cool sensation flow through her body. Himihime took a long, deep breath. This feeling, right here, was one of the few true joys she cherished. To link together with her sword like this, Himihime truly cherished it, and knowing that Kooriga Akumawo would only accept her as it's wielder only made it that much sweeter.

Himihime charged the man straight on. She wasn't truly concerned on where or how to hit the man. Her intention was to see if this man would have the same reaction as Kisame if he were to absorb some of Kooriga Akumawo's chakra. However, if she could deal a fatal blow to the man, then that was alright to.

Himihime swung wide. The man caught her arm. Himihime then punched the man square in the face. She knocked the man down but he still didn't let go of her arm. The man fell down on his back and Himihime flipped over as she fell. She landed on her feet and flipped herself back over to knee the man in the gut. The man only chuckled, and Himihime began to feel Kooriga Akumawo's chakra being drained from her. She waited to see what would happen, but he never did start to freeze over. However, he did stop laughing and stopped smiling for the first time to.

Then, all of a sudden, the man let go of Himihime's arm and clutched his head with both hands. Himihime jumped off the man when he started to scream and thrash around on the floor. She then took this time to give the man another inspection. Just like she witnessed earlier, the man's health was definitely recovering. As to how much he was recovering, well, as Himihime saw it, the man would recover in proportion to how much chakra he would absorb. Even though he was definitely getting healthier, he still looked malnourished. Himihime was broken from her thoughts when the man started screaming.

"Gah, it hurts, it hurts! My head feels so cold!"

"_Did he just get a brain freeze? A freaking brain freeze, really?"_

The man slowly got back up, rubbing his head.

"Hurt, that hurt." The man pouted.

"_Damn, can't use taijutsu or kenjutsu and risk him absorbing my chakra. I can't use ninjutsu because he'll just absorb the chakra out of any technique. I'll have to take him out quickly and in one hit, but I can't do it by myself."_

Himihime bit down on her thumb, letting a small amount of blood out. She then began to make the proper hand signs. Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, and Ram.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"_

Himihime slammed her hand on the ground, a puff of smoke followed. When the smoke cleared, an arctic fox was standing next to Himihime. The fox stood at around the same height as Himihime, and her fur was snow white and sky blue at the tips of her three tails. The fox eyed the sickly man that was in front of her and then gave Himihime a skeptical look.

"Really, you need my help for someone like that?"

"Don't let appearance's fool you, Kumiho. That man has the ability to absorb chakra."

"So, just use Kooriga Akumawo's chakra. There is no way any normal human would be able to take in it's chakra without some repercussion."

"Yeah well, that guy isn't normal."

When Kumiho was summoned, the man looked at her curiously, but then he just returned to giving that large, creepy grin.

"There's another, another thing to eat." The excitement in the man's voice was undeniable. In fact, Himihime was surprised that he didn't start squealing. Not wanting to let the man make the first move, Himihime gave the signal for Kumiho to attack. The arctic fox rushed the man, and clung on to him using her claws. She opened her mouth and bit into the man's shoulder. The man screamed in pain from the sudden attack from the animal, but it didn't keep him from reacting.

The man opened his mouth wide, wider then humanly possible. The man then bit down on one of Kumiho's legs. The man's reaction to her attack was so shocking and unexpected, Kumiho let go of the man. She tore herself away from him and moved back next to Himihime's side.

"The bastard bit me! He actually bit me! What the hell's his problem?" Kumiho said while licking the wound on her leg.

"Yeah, and I thought he was weird before." Himihime commented, agreeing with her summoning.

"Also, I could feel my chakra being drained."

"He tends to do that."

"No, he didn't just absorb it. He seemed to just suck it out of me from where he bit me."

While the two were talking, the man was just standing there showing that big grin of his. The wound form his shoulder had blood dripping down from it. A trail of blood reached from the man's shoulders all the way down his leg. However, the man paid no mind to his wound or his blood covered body. What dominated his mind was absolute and insatiable hunger. As he imagined himself devouring both the blue haired girl and her fox, his grin grew wider and he began to drool. He wanted to eat them, and he wanted to eat them now. The man took one step forward, and then another step. Then suddenly, the man broke into a full on sprint.

Himihime and Kumiho were taken by surprised. Firstly, they were shocked by the speed of a man that appeared in such poor health. Secondly, they were slightly caught off guard because this was the first time that the man took the initiative. The man went for Himihime first. He opened his mouth wide. This time it was wide enough to swallow Himihime whole. Himihime reacted quickly, and just as the man was about to bite down on his prey, she lodged her sword between his teeth. The man was surprised by this action and paused just for a second. This moment of hesitation was what Kumiho was waiting for, and she bit down into the man's leg.

The man gave out a muffled scream as he staggered backwards. The man began to fall and as he did, Himihime tore Kooriga Akumawo out of his mouth. When the man hit the ground, Himihime was instantly on top of him. She stabbed her sword into the man's stomach, pinning him down. Himihime stood up and punched her sword down farther into the man's guts. The man gave out a yelp of pain and thrashed around trying to get up.

"Stay down you cannibal!"

Himihime punched the man in the face. His head snapped back and hit the floor. The man became still and groaned from the pain. Himihime pulled Kooriga Akumawo from the man's stomach and pointed it right at his throat, preparing to deliver the final blow. However, she began to hear something starting to crack. Himihime looked down and saw the floor start to give in underneath her.

"…Crap."

Naruto was again dodging Pride's attacks. Actually, that's all he's been doing. Naruto has just been running around the room making sure that Pride's 'shadow' didn't hit him. Actually, Naruto has been using this to try and figure out his opponent. It hasn't been going to well. Since their fight had begun, Pride hadn't moved from his original position. His 'shadow' had been doing all the work. It was hard for Naruto to figure out Pride's technique since he never made a single hand sign. Hell, he barely moved at all.

There was something else that was bothering Naruto as well. Even though there are sensory-type shinobi that excel in tracking and identifying chakra, every shinobi has the ability to feel chakra. What worried Naruto was the chakra's he felt from Pride. Pride himself had very low chakra, barely enough to call Genin level chakra. However, the 'shadow' that he manipulated had a chakra level that could match, or even surpass, a Jounin level shinobi. How Pride's 'shadow' had a separate chakra, Naruto could not fathom. Though, it may help explain how Pride could utilize it without using hand signs.

"Come on now, Uzumaki." Pride taunted. "I heard you were quite the brash and reckless individual. I wonder, why so cautious and calculating?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how to go about it first. I take my reckless behavior very seriously."

Naruto rushed at Pride, dodging the onslaught of shadows along the way. When Naruto reached him, his right fist shot forward. Naruto was just inches away from hitting Pride square in the face. Pride didn't even flinch, as his 'shadow' shot straight up and halted Naruto's assault. Naruto pulled out a kunai and tried to stab Pride through an opening. Another section of Pride's 'shadow' came up and cut the kunai into two pieces. The moment the kunai broke, Naruto immediately created distance between himself and Pride.

"_Damn, it's like fighting Gaara. Only, instead of being crushed by pounds of sand, Pride is trying to cut me to ribbons using his shadow. His defense is just as good as Gaara's though. His offensive capabilities are also impressive. I'll have to take this seriously."_

Naruto clapped his together. He activated the seals on his hands, and when he pulled his hands apart, his shuriken were present. Pride's arrogant expression did not falter and restarted attacking has he had been. However, Naruto's way to avoid the attack had changed. Instead of evading Pride's 'shadow', he used his shuriken to deflect them. Seeing this, the shock on Pride's face was undeniable, even if it was only for a second.

"What's wrong Pride? You've been pretty smug up till now. Why are you so surprised?"

"You do not fail to impress, Uzumaki. Usually, my shadow is capable of cutting through any material. However, you deflected my attack so easily with those…those…what are they exactly?"

"Believe it or not, they're shuriken."

"Really, shuriken? I must say, Uzumaki, you are full of surprises."

"Thank you. I am called the number one most unpredictable ninja for a reason."

"I am sure. However, I am curious. What exactly are your shuriken made of?"

"Sorry, can't tell you that. These shuriken are made by a specific combination of elements, and I am the only person in the world who knows what it is. I plan to keep it that way until the day I die. A shinobi must keep his secrets, you understand?"

"Of course, of course. However, if I were to kill you here, today, then there would be nothing stopping me from figuring it out, correct?"

"Normally, yes, you would be right. However, I will not die today, for the very simple reason that you cannot kill me, Pride."

"You are very confident, Uzumaki, even if that confidence is ill-founded."

"Of course I am. There is something I must accomplish before I die, and before that goal is fulfilled I am protected by a higher power. That is why you cannot kill me."

"Oh please. Don't try to bring religion into this, Uzumaki. The only real 'power' is the power we make ourselves. Relying on some false God will only lead to a quick and pointless death."

"There was no religious meaning in my words, Pride. I am being quite literal, and I do not rely on a false God. The 'God' I rely on is very real, for I have met him personally."

Pride did not respond immediately. He closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. When he opened them again, his expression became stern.

"Uzumaki, I do not what you have seen, or what you thought you have seen, but I will tell you this. Things such as 'religion' and 'God' only hinder our progress and growth. If we as a race wish to truly evolve then we must throw away our concepts of morality and seek ever greater 'power', even if it means throwing away our humanity!"

The room became quite. For a couple of minutes, neither did anything. They only starred each other down, waiting to see what the other would do next. Then, Naruto began to speak.

"I truly understand what you say, Pride. To evolve into a supreme and powerful being, I understand it all to well. I too have thought of how to break through the limitations we have as humans, and I have found a way to do so."

Pride looked at Naruto, puzzled. "I would like to enquire you about that further, Uzumaki. However, I must ask, won't your 'God' disapprove of this?"

"No. In fact, it is because of this 'God' that I have perfected my method of evolution. Also, you can try to get me tell you what I plan to do, but you're better off not. I won't tell you anything, so why don't we stop this pointless chattering and start trying to kill each other. Besides, all this philosophical talk is giving me a headache."

"If you say so."

Again, Pride's 'shadow' began its assault. Only this time, Naruto was having a much easier time. Since Pride's 'shadow' could not cut through his shuriken, Naruto could easily deflect any 'shadow' he could not avoid. However, Pride decided to use his earlier tactic of surrounding Naruto instead of actually aiming for him. Naruto, once again, found himself surrounded by Pride's shadow. Naruto's shuriken could block Pride's shadow, but they could not cut through it, unfortunately. Naruto looked down toward Pride and saw that he was preparing to send a larger section of his shadow down and stab him.

Naruto quickly responded by putting both of his shuriken in front of himself. They both began to spin rapidly and expand, creating a double-layered chakra shield. Pride's 'shadow' shot down the room at Naruto. Naruto was very surprised when Pride's 'shadow' broke through the first shield. Naruto reacted quickly and infused the second shield with some of the Kyuubi's chakra. This halted Pride's attack immediately.

Naruto deactivated the seal on his right hand, causing one of his shuriken to disappear. He quickly pulled out a small object and threw it into the air. Realizing what the object was, Pride tried to destroy. However, before Pride could reach it, the room was filled with a blinding flash of light. Pride held his arm over his eyes to lessen the effect. He looked down and an expression of shock and horror appeared on his face when he saw his shadow being separated from his body.

After the effects of the flash bomb went away, Pride lowered his arm, only to find Naruto right in front of him. Naruto had used Pride's confusion and hesitation during the flash to get close to him. Pride may have been weakened by the flash, but he could still fight. Pride reacted instantly and Naruto was hit by a group of Pride's 'shadows'. A face of satisfaction appeared on his face when he saw Naruto pinned to the wall on the other end of the room.

However, that satisfied feeling quickly disappeared when what he thought was Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke. What Pride had hit was a Kage Bunshin. Sensing a vile chakra and an overwhelming bloodlust, Pride quickly turned to the real Naruto kneeling down behind him. Naruto's eyes were glowing bright red with a wide and sinister grin plastered on his face. He held a red orb of chakra in his right hand.

"**Rasengan!"**

Pride quickly brought up his 'shadow' in defense. Naruto's Rasengan collided with the 'shadow' at full force, and Pride's shadow was halting the Rasengan with equal force. Both shinobi held their ground, not giving into the other. Eventually, the equal forces repelled each other and both shinobi were tossed across opposite ends of the room. They stopped when their bodies where slammed against the wall. The two staggered up, ready to continue the fight. Naruto, however, began to speak first.

"Man, Pride, that 'shadow' of yours is still pretty strong, even if it is in a weakened state. Let me ask you a question, Pride. Would that 'shadow' of yours be some kind of variation of the techniques of the Nara clan?"

"Do not speak of that pathetic clan. They wouldn't know true strength or potential even if it bit them in the ass." Pride said as a face of disgust appeared on his face.

Naruto was very satisfied by his answer. "I see, I see. Also, Pride, I couldn't help but notice, but the flash bomb seemed to do the most damage to you, even though it isn't meant to harm, just hinder. And, your 'shadow' has a far too physical form to actually be called a shadow. All this combined with the fact that your 'shadow' has a greater chakra density then you do, it makes me wonder. Pride, is that 'shadow' your true form?"

The stunned look on Pride's was absolutely priceless.

"If that is your true form, then what have I been talking to this whole time? Really, it's the only thing I can't figure out about you."

"Uzumaki…"

Pride was cut off as the two began to here crashing above them. They looked up and the ceiling began to crack right above Naruto.

"Wha…"

Naruto was cut off as the ceiling caved in and Himihime and a very skinny man fell on top of him. Then an arctic fox, Kumiho, if Naruto remembered correctly, jumped down through and landed next to the dog pile. The three of them slowly got up. The man saw Pride and immediately ran over to him.

"Pride!"

"Yes, Gluttony, what is it?" Pride asked, irritated.

"That girl hurt me!" Gluttony pointed firmly over at Himihime.

"Yes, I can see that." Pride said, seeing Gluttony's blood covered body. "However, you've started to fill out a little, which is good. That girl must have had some decent chakra."

"Yeah, it was delicious, but cold. She made my head hurt it was so cold."

"That's called a brain freeze, Gluttony."

"What?"

"A brain freeze, Gluttony, is when someone eats something very cold very fast."

"Oh."

Naruto and Himihime kinda just starred on at the exchange.

"That guy must have been annoying to fight, Hime-chan."

"You have no idea." Himihime then took a good look at Pride. "That one looks like an asshole."

"You have no idea."

As Naruto and Himihime were talking, Pride had grabbed a hold of Gluttony and they began to sink into Pride's 'shadow'. This explained how the two got in without being detected.

"Yeah, where do you two think you're going!" Himihime said.

"Don't worry; you two will be seeing us again very soon." And with that, Pride and Gluttony disappeared into the shadows. Their chakra had vanished, making it impossible to track them.

"Damn it, they got away." Himihime pouted.

"Don't worry about, Hime-chan." Naruto said while he was examining Kumiho's wound. "This looks pretty nasty, are you sure you'll be all right?"

"I'll be fine. The bastard bit me, but it wasn't too bad. Although, if he had fangs, then it would of have been a different story." Kumiho answered. She then turned her attention to Himihime, who still looked a little concerned.

"Alright, just send me back and I'll get treatment."

"Fine." Himihime formed a hand sign and Kumiho disappeared in a puff of smoke. Himihime turned to her senpai and saw him rummaging around in his pockets.

"Senpai, what are you doing?"

Naruto didn't answer her, and proceeded to take out a fair amount of paper bombs.

"Senpai, what are those for?" Although, Himihime had a pretty good idea already.

"Isn't it obvious, we're going to blow this place up."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Longest. Chapter. Ever. I really wasn't expecting it to go on for so long. I thought of cutting it in half and make it two chapters, but there was no where I could cut it and it still flowed. When it switched to Himihime's fight with Gluttony might of been a good spot, but that would have made the first half far too short. Now, before anyone says anything, yes, the Capital Vices Project was inspired by the Homonculi from FMA. HOWEVER, most of the Vices differ greatly from their Homoculi counterparts. The two exceptions are Pride and Greed. Pride you already met, and you can easily see the similarities. Greed won't be introduced until later on, but he will be almost like a carbon copy (lol, get it?) of his counterpart. Just a heads up their.

Anyway, a couple of people I want to respond to -

Peter Kim, you are far from the truth about Hinata that the only place colder then where you are now would be the Ninth Circle of Hell. And this DEFINITELY, WILL NOT, NEVER be a SasuNaru or NaruSasu fic. Just thinking about it sends a chill down my spine. There won't be any romance in this fic, but there will be people attracted to both Naruto and Sasuke. Some of them should be pretty obvious.

Ren, you are a little closer with your prediction. No, the Jinchuuriki are not keeping in touch with their former villages. You're on the right track with Naruto, but his plan isn't so simple-minded. I said he was OOC for a reason.

Thanks to all for the reviewsn so far, and keep 'em coming. I really like reading what you guys have to say about my fic or what you think might happen. Just do not flame. I haven't had that problem yet, but it is bound to happen some time. So, just saying it now, don't do it.


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